CONFERENCE
Terror experts praise Tui for response to Tunisia attack
F
ormer Scotland Yard detectives deployed in Sousse aſter the 2015 terror atack praised Tui’s
response to the incident. Counterterrorist and crisis expert
Steve Challice said: “[Tui’s] response, cooperation, communication and general partnership, from our perspective, was excellent.” Challice and colleague Miles
Manning, who were part of the crisis teams that also dealt with the immediate aſtermaths of the 2015 Sharm el-Sheikh and 2016 Brussels terror atacks, described the situation on the ground in Tunisia. Manning told delegates that the
team faced numerous challenges, including dealing with the local authorities, cultural differences and fielding daily calls from the prime minister which “took them
away from their day job”. A total of 38 people, including 30
British Tui customers, were shot dead by a gunman on the beach outside and inside the Hotel Riu Imperial Marhaba. Manning said many of the
people on the beach thought it was a demonstration and did not realise what was happening until they saw people dying. Relatives of the victims
are claiming damages from Tui and have instructed law firm Irwin Mitchell to start civil proceedings. Manning praised Tui’s handling of
the incident, saying he was a “big fan” of the company. He urged other travel companies
to have crisis plans in place. But he warned travel businesses
that law firms such as Irwin Mitchell were “coming for them”.
BA has won customers back since IT woe – Brem
British Airways’ commercial chief said the airline had “won many of its customers back” aſter it suffered an IT meltdown that leſt thousands of passengers stranded. Andrew Brem said the airline had invested heavily
in securing its systems since the failure over a May bank holiday weekend in 2017. About 75,000 passengers faced severe disruption
and more than 700 flights were cancelled. “We have won many of [those customers] back,”
said BA’s chief commercial officer. “It wasn’t our finest moment and that’s why we’re investing in making sure our processes are resilient.” Brem also said BA had quadrupled the
number of people in its technology team since rolling out its new NDC-enabled fares, which agent partners had been “most vocal about”. Asked about competition from
12 20 JUNE 2019
low-cost carriers, Brem said: “Competition is good. While we may have focused customer segments, we are a broad church. “If you are willing to fly
relatively off-peak and have no checked baggage, you will find we compete with low-cost carrier fares. “Te industry seems to be
converging a bit so for low-cost
carriers to make the returns they need to be sustainable, they need to atract some higher-yielding passengers.”
Andrew Brem, BA
Thomas Cook’s Chris Mottershead (centre) as its new president. He has succeeded Trevor
Harding (far right) who held the post for 16
years and announced his retirement in May. Harding received a standing ovation
conference as he handed over the president’s
medal to Mottershead. They were joined on
stage by ITT chairman Steven Freudmann.
travelweekly.co.uk from delegates at the
MOTTERSHEAD BECOMES ITT PRESIDENT: ITT has appointed
Caption for the pic
Miles Manning, counterterrorism expert
Institute of Travel & Tourism Conference 2019: Sustainability and responses
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