Trade upbeat about peaks prospects Juliet Dennis


Travel agents remain optimistic about the peak January sales period but expect companies to be ‘smarter’ with their marketing spend. Agents said they were preparing


for a highly competitive start to 2023 against the current backdrop of political instability and uncertainty. Hays Travel North West managing


director Don Bircham said: “I’m really optimistic about January. I think you will see a lot of marketing activity. “It will be the first decent January


in years and everyone [companies] will want their fair share of the market. Holidays are right up on people’s priority lists; perhaps the new three-piece suite will go instead?”


Haslemere Travel managing


director Gemma Antrobus agreed: “I believe people will forgo a new car to have a holiday because of what was taken from them in the pandemic.” Advantage Travel Partnership


said it was “still planning a full peaks campaign” to support members. Chief commercial officer Kelly


Cookes said the type of marketing planned by agents was a “real mix” but added: “From conversations with members they are pressing ahead with plans. Given the increased exposure during the pandemic of agents and the service they can offer, most are keen to capitalise on this.” Independent Travel Experts said


its members would be “ready to hit the ground running and adapt


Holidaysplease ‘to return to 15-20% growth next year’


Robin Searle Holidaysplease Conference, Daventry


Holidaysplease says it is on track to return to “attractive but sustainable” growth of 15% to 20% from next year. The homeworking agency held


its first annual conference since 2019 in Daventry last week and reported record sales months for each month of the calendar year so far, with record departures in July and August alone accounting for £11 million of business. Director Charles Duncombe said the business was not complacent and


4 20 OCTOBER 2022


firms were right to be cautious about the economic outlook. But he said the agency’s strategy of retaining all staff during the pandemic meant it had been well-placed to capitalise on the recovery. “Coming up to Covid, we were a


company that was growing steadily at around 15% to 20% and we are now projecting a return to growth along those lines from the start of next year,” he said. “We felt a bit of softness in the


market at the end of September and start of October and thought it was the start of a slowdown, but since then we have seen some incredibly


strong days and are now back to tracking ahead of 2019.” The company is looking to extend


its network of homeworker partners, including offering an incentive of guaranteed income of £1,000 for three months for four to five new starters. However, Duncombe said he


envisaged growth coming from a combination of a slightly larger base of agents and benefits from enhanced technology, marketing and communications, including improved repeat business rates. “We had expected the post-Covid bounce to die away in April or May,


I think the big


operators at least will have compelling messages to entice people to book


as the market requires” in January. Managing director Gary Gillespie said the market remained “very much an unknown” as a result of current socio- economic and political unrest but said: “You can’t hold back indefinitely waiting for things to return to ‘normal’.” He added: “I think the big


operators at least will have compelling messages to entice people to book. They’ll obviously be smarter


about where they spend their money, and social media might play a bigger part, but you’ll still see those holiday ads on Boxing Day. It just might be on Facebook rather than TV.” Sutton Travel managing director


Andy Tomlinson was hopeful the government’s October 31 fiscal statement would help the pound gain value and bring more stability to the current market. He stressed much of January’s


marketing activity could hang on bookings in the next two months. “I don’t think there are as many


forward sales as there were at this time last year, so a lot could be determined by sales volumes between


now and Christmas,” he added. i Hays Travel NW acquisitions, page 6


Holidaysplease directors Charles


Duncombe, Sonia Dixon and Richard Dixon


and we certainly didn’t expect it to last into September, so we have been pleasantly surprised,” he said. “Average selling prices have


also stayed above pre-pandemic levels, and that is likely to continue through higher prices rather than the voluntary additional spend we’ve seen to this point.” Referring to a sales incentive


which will see all agents and HQ staff taken to Mauritius next summer if targets are achieved, Duncombe told the conference: “Everything at the moment suggests we are bang on track.”


travelweekly.co.uk


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