NEWS TRAVEL WEEKLY BUSINESS CONTINUED FROM THE BACK


cheap holidays and package holidays and they were down year on by year 20%. “Finding new customers is a challenge because if your market is smaller then your marketing becomes less effiient and less rofitale t if you have ambitions to grow you have to be in the mix.” Alan Cross, head of trade sales


at Jet2.com and Jet2holidays, described the market as “aggressive”. “Customers want to buy


holidays, but they want that reassurance,” he said. “If you think customers are just going to walk through the door, forget it. Agents have got to be proactive. Those that are, are getting positive results.” Morgan said that while Brexit


was a “bump in the road”, it did not omare to the finanial crisis of 2007-09 and agents were in a strong position to adapt to changes in the market. “So much of it is an attitude of mind as a travel agent. “The lucky thing for us is we


can sell whatever we like. If the market is all about cruise, we can sell cruise; if it’s about escorted touring, we sell that; we can sell short-haul, we can sell long-haul. It’s about seeing what’s going on, reacting to it and promoting it. “When we go through a situation like we are now, people are nervous about spending marketing money, but instead of cutting back I have the opposite view and spend more to get a bigger share of voice and get more customers. “There are bumps in the


road and this is a big one, but the overall view has got to be positive because people still want to travel. “Brexit does not compare


to the recession of 2007-09. Household incomes are stable and employment is up.”


Travel Weekly Business Breakfast: Industry bosses assess the first


Rzymowska: We must not perpetuate the negativity


The UK boss of Celebrity Cruises said the industry must not “talk itself into a downward spiral” over Brexit.


Jo Rzymowska said many consumers’ buying habits were heaily inflened y the media but she urged the industry not to “perpetuate” negative publicity following a series of travel chaos stories in the mainstream media. Figures from industry analyst GfK showed pre-Christmas


bookings fell following a report in The Sunday Times headlined “No- deal Brexit travel warning: don’t go on holiday after March 29”. Numerous media reports since


have predicted mass queues at European airports, passports and driving licences becoming invalid and prices soaring if the UK leaves the EU with no deal. In response, Abta last week launched a radio and Facebook advertising campaign reassuring consumers they can book holidays with onfidene whateer the outcome over Brexit. Rzymowska, Celebrity


vice-president and managing director for the UK and Ireland, said: “We should commend Abta for its campaign because we can talk ourselves into a downward spiral and we then precipitate


‘The government would not survive in business world’


The government would not survive “one minute in business”, based on its handling of the Brexit negotiations. Celebrity’s Jo Rzymowska said:


70travelweekly.co.uk28 March 2019 RZYMOWSKA: ‘As an industy we must get behind what we do’


“We should commend Abta’s campaign, as we can talk ourselves into a downward spiral”


the problem we are in. “People still want to go on


holiday, and some of us are in a market where deals are not the be all and end all, so it’s about making sure that product delivery is brilliant and making sure customers have the best holiday. “When you have assets, you have


to make sure you are doing all you can to differentiate that product


“We [the UK] are in a mess. None of the people in government would survive in businesses. Can you imagine saying: ‘I’ll think about it and come back to you’. It just wouldn’t happen. “The fact they have been


allowed to carry on the way they have, in the commercial world, they wouldn’t survive a minute and that’s highly frustrating.”


and help trade partners understand the difference between products. “Yes, the media drives a high


percentage of consumers who believe in everything they read, but unless we as an industry continue to get behind what we do, then we just perpetuate that.” Icelolly.com chief executive


Richard Singer said: “We can tell people to go on holiday, but when the Daily Mail says the Europeans don’t want you, the Spanish haven’t got its airports sorted, or that you’re going to be waiting 17 hours at an airport and you’ll have no money if we crash out of the EU, it clearly has an impact on how people feel. That is the challenge.”


But she said that despite the uncertainty, people still wanted holidays.


That view was echoed by Miles


Morgan Travel’s Miles Morgan, who said: “People from the UK will always want to travel abroad. “Holidays are more of an essential than they were 10 years ago. But it’s not an easy market. You have to go after it.”


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