NEWS


TIPTO’S 10TH TEA: Tipto hosted 70 operators and agents at its 10th annual afternoon tea, marking its silver anniversary year. All 25 member suppliers were joined by senior agents at London’s Oxo Tower, with all receiving an engraved 25th anniversary silver pen. At the event, Leger Holidays was recognised as Tipto’s longest-serving current member. It has been with Tipto for 15 of the 25 years after rejoining as part of The Leger Shearings Group in 2022. Head of retail sales Ashley Dellow received a Tipto branded T-shirt and bottle of whisky. T


ravel Weekly


chief reporter Juliet Dennis received a voucher as special recognition for attending all 10 afternoon teas. Tipto is to host 28 roadshows between now and June. Its first is a SuperShow in Cardiff on February 8.


Agencies predict payday boost for family bookings as sales dip


Juliet Dennis and Josie Klein


Travel firms saw sales dip slightly last week as families continued to hold off booking. But agents and operators said


bookings remained higher than the same week last year and predicted payday would spur families to book at the end of the month or in February. The Advantage Travel


Partnership said a slight decrease in sales last week compared with the previous two weeks reflected a similar pattern in January 2023, when bookings recovered in the fourth week. Despite the dip, sales by the


consortium’s members last week were 9% up on the same week last year, and 21% up on revenue. Chief commercial officer Kelly


Cookes said: “Bookings for July and August are increasing but are still


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not at the levels we are seeing for the shoulder summer months, so it does seem to be the family [market] that is not booking in large volumes yet.” Miles Morgan Travel chairman


STORY TOP


Miles Morgan said the chain enjoyed a strong Saturday despite “patchy” sales in the week. “It’s classic January. Everyone is chasing high volumes. It’s a long month of high expectations,” he said. Fred Olsen Travel


reported a record week for the business overall, helped by strong sales through its tour


operation Fred Holidays, despite a similar decrease in bookings. Retail director Paul Hardwick


noted: “Sales in the shops were down slightly on week two [of January] but 11% up on the same week last year.” Althams Travel’s sales last week


were 12% up, but Saturday failed to top the previous two Saturdays, its busiest days of the month so far.


Family bookings were picking


up for the agency, said managing director Sandra McAllister. “We are seeing family bookings


now almost on a par with last year, and cumulatively just marginally down,” she said. Families made up 30% of beach package sales last week, above the group’s 27% average. Independent Travel Experts’ sales


exceeded expectations, with volumes up 18% on the previous week, but family bookings did not account for a greater share, instead levelling off at about 21% of sales. Managing director Gary Gillespie


said: “The consensus among our homeworkers is customers are shopping around more and conversion has been more hard work.” Stephanie Slark, director of


membership services at The Travel Network Group, urged the group’s agents to analyse performance based on the whole month rather than on record days or weeks. “This will differ


for businesses depending on location and customer demographic,” she said. In the ski market, firms continued


to credit “incredible” weather conditions for driving strong demand for late sales and forward bookings. Philip Wright, head of sales and


service at Iglu Ski, encouraged agents to secure late bookings to avoid compromising on airport, resort and accommodation due to limited availability in February half-term and Easter. “There are still some holidays left, but they’re selling fast,” he said. Ski Solutions chief executive


Craig Burton anticipated bookings made in November, December and January would be up 25% year on year. “We’ve seen a number of clients return from Christmas and New Year [holidays] looking to book again for this season and next season,” he said. Sno founder Richard Sinclair


predicted a long season. “Expect some of the best T-shirt skiing of your life this Easter,” he said.


25 JANUARY 2024 5


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