Agents report strengthening sales Andrew McQuarrie
Agencies have reported increasingly strong sales as January continues, yet some have noted hesitation in the family market due to pricing. Barrhead Travel revealed
Saturday, January 18, had been the strongest day in its history, beating the previous high set the preceding Saturday, while Travel Counsellors has recorded eight days in January that rank among its top-25 sales days in its 30-year history. Nicki Tempest-Mitchell,
Barrhead Travel managing director, said: “Last week really saw peaks take hold in our retail network. “We’d already had a strong start to January, but it seems that consumer
sentiment has changed gears and has accelerated very quickly.” Hays Travel hailed a “buoyant”
month so far, while InteleTravel described this year’s peaks performance as “staggering”. Independent Travel Experts,
The Travel Network Group’s homeworking division, has welcomed growing momentum as the month progresses. “Following some initial
variability in the first week, bookings steadily climbed from January 8 onward and culminated in a strong surge last week,” said managing director Gary Gillespie. A similar pattern was identified
by Premier Travel managing director Paul Waters. “We were very pleased
Explora Journeys to host hundreds of agents this year
Ella Sagar
Explora Journeys plans to host hundreds of agents on its ships this year as it steps up its trade support. The luxury line has welcomed
600 agents from the UK and Ireland across its fleet over the past 18 months, but managing director Antonio Paradiso wants more agents to experience the product first-hand. Paradiso, who is also managing
director of MSC Cruises, said: “There are still a lot of travel advisors who have not had the chance to experience Explora Journeys yet, so our mission is to make sure that we cover everyone, ideally as soon as possible.
6 23 JANUARY 2025 “By January 2026, I would like to
say we have had the opportunity to host up to 1,000 travel advisors.” Paradiso said the current wave
season had started with “the strongest booking curve ever registered in the UK”, which he attributed to the line’s increased focus on the trade. He believed the early success
was also due to the line’s offering of shorter itineraries compared with other luxury brands, with an average length of seven nights. Paradiso said this was attracting
an increasing number of new-to- cruise passengers, with 25% of its customers in that segment, as well as younger customers, giving an average
age of 50. Paradiso described this as “remarkable” for a luxury brand. The UK is Explora Journeys’
second-largest market and Paradiso is confident it will experience “high double-digit growth” this year and next, as the line continues to expand its distribution across the UK and Ireland. The trade represents the largest
share of the line’s business in the UK, with 80% of sales coming via agents. Paradiso confirmed Explora I
and Explora III (due to launch in 2026) would sail itineraries out of Southampton, with opportunities for all the line’s ships to “call in the UK more often”, resulting in more
We’d already had a
strong start to January, but consumer sentiment has changed gears and accelerated quickly
with the performance last week, which showed a good improvement compared with the previous week and finished 17% higher than the same week last year,” he said. Asked to explain the
improvements, he suggested the cold snap earlier in the month was perceived to have dented footfall and added that pricing is an ongoing challenging factor.
“Pricing still seems to be high
for the traditional summer package market, especially for people who asked for quotes before Christmas,” he said. “They were expecting to see prices come down, but they haven’t in most cases.” Dawson & Sanderson reported
that last week’s figures showed passenger numbers for summer departures were down 3% compared with last year, but revenue was 10% up. Commercial and corporate
director Judith Alderson said the slight drop in passenger figures “may in part be due to the increase in cost”, citing a £50 rise in the average selling price of mainstream European summer package holidays compared with January 2024.
Explora II. Inset: Antonio
Paradiso
opportunities for agent visits. He echoed his ambition to
welcome the UK trade on board MSC’s ships, including MSC World America, which is due to launch in Miami in April. Paradiso invited agents to use
the launch to expand their focus from ex-UK and Mediterranean voyages to long-haul sailings, in line with wider travel trends, and to appeal to repeat guests. The mainstream cruise line
recently debuted Alaska itineraries, for which the UK was the second highest-performing market. Its 2027
world cruise sold out in weeks. i Ultimate Guide to Alaska Cruises, p45
travelweekly.co.uk
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