THIS WEEK IN... A STEP BACK IN TIME


2009


Tui Travel scrapped its annual salary review for UK staff amid news rival Thomas Cook was awarding employees an annual pay rise of 1.5%. All Tui’s 19,000 UK staff were affected. The news came as Tui revealed summer bookings were down 7% year on year for the previous four weeks, while cumulative bookings were 18% down. Meanwhile, Page & Moy announced 60 jobs were at risk as part of a group-wide restructure. Kuoni chief executive Peter Rothwell insisted proactive agents were important, but admitted an increased in-house focus by the multiples had forced it to seek more direct business. Kuoni’s own retail network would expand to 10 or 12, he said. Candidates for the vacancy on Abta’s board of directors for the retail category for turnover of less than £20 million urged members to cast their votes. The candidates were Sandy Murray, Sandy Travel; Doreen McKenzie, Knock Travel; and Daniele Broccoli, Britaly Travel.


1994


We take a look through


the Travel Weekly archives in our 50th year to find


out what was making the headlines 10, 25 and 45 years ago…


1974


After eight hours of talks, two of Abta’s councils reached a compromise on the fuel surcharge commission row. Although agents were told they would have to continue collecting surcharges for summer packages on a non-commissionable basis, commission would be paid from the start of the 1974-75 winter programmes. On the opinion page, a Somerset reader named only as ‘Underpaid’ said he/she was forced to take on a second job because working as a counter clerk on £16.50 a week did not provide sufficient income. The Torremolinos Universal – destined to be Europe’s largest holiday complex – accepted its first guests. The opening of the 3,000-room centre was to be phased over 15 months. The self-contained ‘holiday city’ in Torremolinos had its own pools, discos, shops and restaurants. Cadogan Travel issued a full-page apology to agents


for its slow service. It blamed higher-than-expected demand and the miners’ strike while promising it was back to its “usual standards of efficiency and service”.


Non-Abta retailer Global Travel Group announced plans to open 100 agencies in Asda supermarkets nationwide following a successful pilot. The group, which struck deals with leading operators following the end of the restrictive ‘stabiliser rule’, had an outlet at Asda in Merseyside’s Ellesmere Port. Virgin Atlantic was the first carrier to respond to British Airways’ global discounts – by undercutting its rival by £1 on the New York and Los Angeles routes to £238 and £318 respectively. Columnist Maureen Hill said the lack of double beds in hotels was wreaking havoc for mature customers. “The ‘mature’ face in front of me grew so grumpy at the thought of sleeping in twin beds he decided to leave, to spend more time choosing his holiday on the basis of the double room rather than the destination.” Three executives – John Boulding, Elaine Lumley and Sue Bisby – who’d lost their jobs when Jet Travel was sold the previous year, bought the company back.


30travelweekly.co.uk28 March 2019


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