NEWS


ould boost it, are this week’s webcast themes. Watch at: go.travelweekly.co.uk/webcasts SOLO TRAVEL EXPERTS


AGENCY BOSSES


Alistair McLean


Travel


Claire Brighton


Weekly’s Laura French


Miles Morgan


Travel Weekly’s Lucy Huxley


Sarah Weetman


Sue Livsey R


Solo travel sector tipped to bounce back strongly What hasn’t


esearch by Cox & Kings suggests solo travel could be among the first segments to come back as


the touring sector starts to recover. Sue Livsey, commercial senior


manager, said: “We conducted a survey among Cox & Kings clients to try and get a feel for their attitudes towards travelling in these unusual circumstances. “One of the questions we asked


was: ‘In the foreseeable future, who are you going to be travelling with?’ And the second most-popular answer was [people] travelling by themselves. That came after couples but ahead of families or travelling with friends. It shows the solos market is very, very robust.” Livsey said about a quarter of


recent bookings had been made by customers travelling alone. Sarah Weetman, head of trade


sales at Just You, agreed the market was resilient but that rebuilding confidence would be key to getting the industry back on its feet. “What hasn’t changed with our


customers is their resilience and their travelweekly.co.uk


changed with our clients is their resilience and sense of adventure


sense of adventure,” she said. “They want to travel, there’s a


hunger there. But I think one of the main things that’s really key in any sector is how we build confidence in our customers. We believe our trade partners can help give customers the confidence to travel.” Claire Brighton, account director


for the Association of Touring & Adventure Suppliers, agreed agents had an important role to play in rebuilding confidence – and that proactively targeting potential customers was likely to prove productive in the coming months. “The thing with solo travellers


is they might not necessarily go to a travel agent automatically,” she said. “So really go out and look for


solo travellers. Use your database to market in your local community, and use those special-interest groups.”


Amanda Matthews


‘Getting agents back on fam trips is crucial to sales’


L


eading agents say getting first-hand experience of current travel experiences is more essential than


ever to be able to inform and reassure customers. Miles Morgan, chairman of


Miles Morgan Travel, said: “I think there are an awful lot of people who are wondering: ‘What’s it like in an airport at the moment? How do airports achieve social distancing? What extra restrictions are there? What’s it like on the aircraft? Is everybody wearing masks? How on earth do I go to the toilet or do I have to sit with my legs crossed for two-and-a-half hours?’ “It’s these basic questions that


people are interested to know. When you get to the resort, is a buffet a thing of the past? How are they doing breakfasts and lunches? Is it every other sunbed in use around a swimming pool? And what happens on the beach?” Alistair McLean, owner of


Dorking Travel, said getting agents back on fam trips was crucial.


People used to


come to talk to an agent because we’d had first-hand experience


He said: “Before all of this,


people used to come in and talk to a travel agent because we’d had first- hand experience. Why do we invest so much time and effort going on fam trips? Because then we can come back and sell that destination better. [First-hand advice] will really show the value of the agent.” Amanda Matthews, joint


managing director of Designer Travel, said: “The hotels in general have spent a lot of this lockdown educating travel agents, and they have, in a lot of cases, kept us very up to date with their new ways of working and procedures. “It’s about getting clients to be


as informed as possible before they go so they’re fully aware of what the extra precautions are, as opposed to being shocked when they get there.”


16 JULY 2020


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