5 2
Brexit ‘will claim travel casualties’
Ben Ireland
Travel Weekly Business Breakfast, Manchester
Brexit will force some travel companies to fold, and clarity is needed to help firms in the industry make plans, a panel of executives has warned.
Speaking at Travel Weekly’s
latest Business Breakfast, staged last week under the wings of a retired Concorde at Manchester airport, Inspiring Travel Company (ITC) chair Jennifer Atkinson said it was important for businesses to show ambition, adding: “Out of adversity comes opportunity.” But she warned
that even operators such as ITC, which sells to affluent customers, were vulnerable to a weakening value of the pound and predicted clients would take fewer and shorter breaks. “We are going to have to look
harder for opportunities,” she said. “Sadly, only the strongest survive, therefore there will be casualties.” Manchester airport chief operat-
ing officer Tricia Williams urged firms to make contingencies, add- ing: “Having no plans is terrifying.”
The airport has no-deal plans in
place, she said, but admitted that after the 2016 referendum result it “took a step back” and considered scaling back a £1 billion investment in its Terminal 2. Richard Calvert, chief executive of Shearings parent Specialist Leisure Group, said he would back a second referendum, adding that even as a domestic specialist he sees negatives to leaving the EU. “If there was Armageddon,
or whatever you want to call it, there would be a rise in people staying in the UK for staycations or international customers staying at our hotels, but your cost base goes up as well,” he said. On the Beach chief
executive Simon Cooper equated
planning for Brexit as “trying to quantify the unquantifiable”. He predicted holidaymakers would make bookings later next year. Christoph Debus, chief executive
of Thomas Cook Airlines, said “Brexit will definitely impact us”. He called for clarity but said he
was “confident” that “a solution” would be found so aircraft could continue to fly on Brexit day. “It’s clearly in the interests of the British government,” he added.
Gill Williams makes booking while flying
Agent clinches a sale – at 36,000ft
Harry Kemble
harry.kemble@
travelweekly.co.uk
A self-confessed “workaholic” agent booked a customer on a cruise while 36,000ft in the air flying on her own holiday.
Gill Williams, of The Cruise
Village in Blackpool, was heading to New York with her husband on September 7 to celebrate his 50th birthday when she decided to check her emails mid-flight. A new customer had emailed Williams asking her to book a
seven-night cruise on Azamara Pursuit for a Barcelona sailing to Monte Carlo next April. Williams immediately logged on
Business Breakfast panellists
to The Cruise Village’s in-house system and Azamara Club Cruises’ booking platform, Airwaves, using British Airways’ onboard Wi-Fi to finalise the cruise for her new client – as her husband watched a film in the seat next to her. Reflecting on the mid-air booking, Williams, a homeworker for the past four years who won the leisure agent of the year award at Travel Weekly’s Agent Achievement Awards in 2016, said
she logged on because she loves her job. “I have never tried to make
a booking mid-flight before,” she said. “But I was absolutely delighted I could get on to all the systems I needed to make the booking while flying over the Atlantic. “I am a workaholic and all my colleagues think I am crazy.” Williams said her colleagues
laugh at her for always taking her laptop on holiday but she intends to travel with it again when she and her husband sail on Royal Caribbean’s Rhapsody of the Seas in October. Phil Nuttall, director of The
Cruise Village, said: “I am very proud of her because she showed innovation and used her time wisely. “It just shows that when you
are away, you can maximise your opportunities – not just on trains or buses but also when you are 36,000ft in the air. “I have never heard of this
happening before.” ›What’s your best booking story? Email
ben.ireland@
travelweekly.co.uk
20 September 2018
travelweekly.co.uk 5 3 STORIES HOT
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80
