NEWS ROUND-UP NEWS IN BRIEF
If Only seeks agents’ help to identify product ‘gaps’
Former Towie star to host Royal Trade Awards
Former The Only Way Is Essex star Mark Wright will host the Royal Caribbean Trade Awards on board the revamped Independence of the Seas next month. Ben Bouldin, associate vice-president and managing director, will co-host the ceremony with Wright on the two-night sailing from Southampton on May 13.
Tui opens high-tech store in Liverpool
Tui has opened a new store in Liverpool Shopping Park. The shop boasts touchscreens showing destination information and videos, a bureau de change, welcome bar and self-service computer for customers to access reviews and excursion details.
Luton airport strike threat as union plans ballots
Luton airport faces the threat of “significant disruption” this summer after Unite announced strike ballots with baggage handler members at Menzies Aviation over pay and zero hours contracts. It is also balloting members at its International Currency Exchange branches in a dispute over unsocial-hours payments.
Make Holidays Greener to focus on plastics
This year’s Make Holidays Greener campaign will concentrate on plastics. Abta’s latest sustainability initiative runs from June until the end of August to allow companies to share best practice. The campaign is run in partnership with Travelife for Hotels & Accommodations.
Ben Ireland
ben.ireland@
travelweekly.co.uk
If Only will add destinations to its portfolio based on agent feedback and is hiring staff to join its growing team.
Chief executive Andy Freeth
wants agents to get in touch if they see “gaps” in the luxury operator’s offering, be it new destinations or different itineraries in existing destinations. Freeth was due to invite
feedback at an If Only brunch on Wednesday morning, after the Scottish Passenger Agents’ Association’s (SPAA) 88th annual dinner in Glasgow on Tuesday. Speaking in advance to Travel
Weekly, he said: “We are fully reviewing our product offering to see where we can improve it. “As well as looking at the
market, we want agent feedback so we can be their partner of choice. “Are consumers asking agents
for something we don’t offer? Our team will come up with ideas,
Caribtours runs first Anguilla fam since last year’s hurricanes
Caribtours has run its first agent fam trip to the Caribbean since last year’s hurricanes Irma and Maria displaced an estimated £1 million worth of business. The educational was the first
from the UK to Anguilla since Irma struck in September. Managing director Paul Cleary said the impact of the hurricanes on sales had been felt “more keenly than expected” but reported group-wide sales since
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travelweekly.co.uk 26 April 2018
FREETH: If Only is pledging more marketing materials for agents
but agents are the ones speaking directly to their customers.” If Only also plans to provide
more point-of-sale marketing materials for agents.
“Independent agencies can add
value on long-haul, luxury tailor- made, but what they don’t have is a big marketing team behind them,” said Freeth. “We can provide window displays with a luxury feel.”
October 1 were £1 million ahead of last year, thanks to sales of its new Europe programme. “Europe is driving our
growth,” he said. “We are getting growth out of the Caribbean, but not at the same rate.” Caribtours began sending
clients to Europe last September. By this September, it expects Europe to account for 10% of sales, behind the Caribbean (65%) and the Indian Ocean and Middle East (25%). The fam group visited venues
that have reopened since the hurricanes including Zemi Beach House Resort & Spa, Four Seasons Resort & Residences
FIRST FAM: Caribtours took packs for schoolchildren in Anguilla
and Ocean Echo Restaurant. Caribtours partnered with the Anguilla Tourist Board and Virgin Atlantic to send educational packs to schoolchildren on the island.
Freeth said agents in Scotland –
If Only’s head office is in Milngavie, near Glasgow – had given his staff a “resounding” reception since he and fellow senior executives Gordon McCreadie, Tracy Docherty and David Irving had joined the operator having controversially quit their roles at Travel 2 and Gold Medal last year. If Only is also to hire “several”
reservation specialists for its destination teams, which are Americas & Caribbean; Arabia & Indian Ocean; Australasia, New Zealand & the Pacific; and India. Freeth added: “The phones
are ringing off the hook, so we need a few more bodies and will continue our recruitment as the business grows.”
“Our team will come up with ideas, but agents are the ones speaking directly to their customers”
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