INSIDE THIS
WEEK Contents
NEWS Hot Stories
Virgin Voyages will ‘show off’ ship in UK; Heatwave sees high street sales fall 10%; Agent urges others to check insurance; Travel Counsellors targets non-agents; EasyJet to ramp up its Holidays operation
AAAs Round-up
Sixteen-page photo special as UK’s best agents are honoured at the Travel Weekly Agent Achievement Awards 2018 page 16
Princess hails ‘new era’; Collette cares
Special Reports Virgin Voyages reveals new ship details 10 AAAs: Outstanding Contribution winners 12
Talk Back
Resort reps, disabled travellers, no-deal Brexit, Ryanair profits
NEWS YOU CAN USE Product Emerald, Qatar, Sandals
Operator Premier, APT, Jet2CityBreaks, Backwaters, Intrepid Travel, Kirker
Cruise Norwegian Cruise Line 15 08 04 33
34 39
FRONTLINE Comment Sharon Fleming, Thompson 40
Day in the Life Deborah Knight Competitions Win a Silversea cruise
42 45
Mystery Shopper Croydon, south London 50
DESTINATIONS UK & Ireland
Seasons: Sell the UK at any time of year 52 South Coast: Heritage sites in the south 59
FRONT COVER Richard Branson visits Italy to reveal details about first Virgin Voyages ship
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES FOR VIRGIN VOYAGES
Africa Kenya: Take to skies on scenic air safari 62
BUSINESS
Resilience Through Tourism Summit Three-page report from Jordan event
72 WHAT
LUCY DID THISWEEK
26 Jul
Lucy Huxley Editor-in-chief @Lucy_Huxley
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Had a fantastic day whizzing around Carden Park in a golf buggy, seeing all the agents and suppliers at the Travel 2/Gold Medal golf day.
Hosted the judging for the 2018 Association of Women Travel Executive awards – and witnessed some amazing entries.
Watched my nine-year-old daughter get pipped on the line into second place in the 400-metre race at school. She was furious!
26 July 2018
travelweekly.co.uk 3
professionals, asking ‘what is this glorious wet stuff falling from the sky?’ Amusing as they were, the underlying tone was deadly serious. Other than farming, there can be few industries as desperate for rain as travel. One operator I spoke to this week said the continuing
A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR Stay cool in the sales heat O
heatwave was killing trading – and he has a domestic arm to his business. Apparently, it’s so hot that people don’t want to leave home, even to travel within the UK. He said fellow suppliers were reporting bookings down
by 30%, 40%, 50% and even 60% in the past five weeks compared with last year. Figures from industry analyst GfK suggest the high street particularly is bearing the brunt of the slump as consumers avoid the shops in temperatures of 30C-plus (page 5). But the stats also showed bookings for the year to date up 2%, with revenues holding, so it’s not all doom and gloom – and it’s also not indefinite. While this summer’s lates market will undoubtedly be impacted, if one thing’s for certain, the weather will eventually turn. The key is not to panic. Hats off then to The Travel Network Group, which has launched a campaign telling customers its members are ‘Ready When You Are’, and independents like Hays IG member Seaside Travel in County Durham, whose owner is encouraging staff to post personal updates, not just deals, on Facebook to interact with customers while business is slow, so they are front of mind when demand picks up. Those who remain cool in the heat of the moment will prevail.
n Friday, it rained for the first time in weeks and I saw several tongue-in-cheek social media posts from travel
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