Agents ‘defy retail sales downturn’ Juliet Dennis


Consumer spending data released this week suggested travel agents have bucked a recent downward trend in retail sales, although some firms have reported a slowdown at the start of the peak travel season. According to Barclays consumer


card data, spending with agents rose by 0.5% year on year in June, with transactions up 11.4%, while overall consumer expenditure fell 0.1% year on year , with transactions down 0.8%. For airlines, spending rose by 5.8% but transactions fell by 6.5%. Despite the data, agents said June


and July trading had been “mixed”. Lincolnshire Co-op travel group manager Wayne Dennett reported


“reasonably strong” sales despite a small decline in passenger numbers year on year. “We believe economic


uncertainty as well as a warm summer in the UK so far are a factor in this,” he said, but added: “We’ve been helped by an average customer spending increase of 12% against the same period last year.” ArrangeMY Escape general


manager Jennifer Lynch said: “Sales have been OK and we have traded above last year but it’s not been ‘wow’.” She said late sales had been a


hard sell despite “a lot more late deals than for a long time”, adding: “Conversions on lates have been low. The cost of living has gone up but


Celestyal launches package holidays under new brand


Samantha Mayling


Celestyal is selling packaged cruise holidays under the new Celestyal Travel brand, headed by business development vice-president Janet Parton. News of the package offering


was announced at the Travel Weekly Agent Achievement Awards, of which Celestyal was headline sponsor. The cruise line has also opened


a UK office in Guildford and a UK contact centre for agents. Lee Haslett, chief commercial


officer, told a Travel Weekly webcast: “We have launched in partnership with Hays Travel – joining the


6 17 JULY 2025


Hays Travel Independence Group – and that means we can provide a full package product for our agent partners.” The packages include flights,


hotels and shore experiences for the cruise line’s itineraries around the Greek islands and Gulf region. “It is absolutely a response to


agent feedback…and we’ll add more product to that,” he said. The opening of the UK contact centre was also in response to requests. There are five staff members in


the contact centre, who have been trained and have visited the cruise line’s two vessels: Celestyal Discovery and Celestyal Journey.


“[The UK] is the first market


where we’re having a dedicated contact centre,” Haslett said, noting there is a contact centre for all markets in Piraeus, Greece, and another one in North America. “This really is our continued


commitment to this market… and to travel agents as well,” he added. “They told us they wanted to speak to someone in the UK. “We expect continued growth. If


you look at the numbers in the UK, even without this product, we are growing at a really rapid rate.”


The cost of living


has gone up but people don’t realise holidays have gone up in price too


people don’t realise holidays have gone up in price too.” TravelTime World director Ashley


Quint said card transactions may have increased due to clients paying summer holiday balances in June. “Business has been patchy,” he


said, adding clients were changing how they chose to spend their money, such as not eating out as much on holiday. “They are still


going away but finding cheaper ways of doing it,” he said. Designer Travel professional


travel expert Ally Toner said July sales had slowed following a stellar June. “My June sales were 278% up year on year but July is quieter due to the school holidays starting,” she added. Barclays’ monthly data


announcement also included the results of a consumer poll by Opinium Research at the end of June, which found confidence in household finances improved six percentage points to 73% – a four-month high. However, three quarters (76%)


of respondents were concerned about the impact of ongoing geo-political instability on their finances.


Celestyal Journey Right: Janet Parton and Lee Haslett


Haslett explained that Parton


now has “two hats”, working for the core cruise line as well as the new Celestyal Travel business. “We work with a number of


operators and agents who package it themselves – and then we have the travel business, which is for agents who want to take a [packaged] travel product,” he added.


Watch the interview with Lee Haslett in full at:


travelweekly.co.uk/media travelweekly.co.uk


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