NEWS and customers’ holiday plans. Juliet Dennis reports from Wroclaw, Poland
Vince Cable, former Liberal Democrats leader
B
Martin Bamford, Africa Collection; Sandra Mutter, Andara Travel; Jamie Loizou, AmaWaterways; and Ian Prior, Westway Travel
‘Customers still want to book despite Brexit uncertainty’ 79%
rexit uncertainty and the failure of Tomas Cook are not puting customers off booking holidays,
according to Te Specialist Travel Association (Aito). Aito revealed the results of its
annual online Insights survey of 26,400 responses from members’ customers at its overseas conference. Almost eight out of 10 customers
(79%) said Brexit had not influenced their holiday plans this year. Of the 16% that said it had changed their plans, seven out of 10 said they had travelled less to Europe this year. Looking ahead, 66% said Brexit
had not influenced the holidays they planned to take in the next 12 months, while 22% said political uncertainty was impacting their
Customers whose holidays this year were not influenced by Brexit
choices and 12% were not sure. Of those that said Brexit was
influencing their decisions for the next year, 73% said they were now less likely to travel to Europe and 52% were more likely to take a UK break. Te survey was carried out in late
September and coincided with the failure of Tomas Cook. When asked what type of holiday they associated with the word ‘safe’, there was no noticeable difference between the responses of customers who took
Cable predicts UK economy will be hit by recession after Brexit
Te UK economy post-Brexit is likely to suffer the equivalent of a “slow puncture” rather than a “blowout” but recession is on the cards, according to former Liberal Democrats leader Sir Vince Cable. Cable described the current UK economy as being
in a “bizarre Alice in Wonderland world” as a result of growing global debt levels since the 2008 global financial crisis and negative interest rates. He said: “Assuming there is some kind of Brexit
deal, we are almost certainly heading to a weaker currency. “What we will experience is not a catastrophe, it’s
more like a slow puncture – not a blowout. “It’s tempting to say Armageddon will be here, but it
Iain Rodgers, Bahamas Tourist Office; Derek Moore, Aito; Amrit Singh, TransIndus; Chris Oakes, Faremine;
Jakub Mazur, Wroclaw deputy mayor; and Julie Croucher, Travel with Jules
travelweekly.co.uk
won’t – a lot of the issues are a slow-burn.” However, Cable said a recession was likely. “It’s bound to happen, and the government has run
out of ammunition,” he said. “From an economic point of view it’s the big thing hanging in the background.”
the survey before or aſter Cook’s collapse, with 52% saying specialist operators (such as an Aito member), 34% package tour operators and 13% independently booked breaks. “Package tour operators were
seen as equally safe as booking independently,” said Roy Barker, director of Spike, which conducted the survey on Aito’s behalf. Kevin O’Regan, managing
director of Aito member Ramblers Holidays, said: “Our forward sales for next year are showing significant growth; people still want to travel.” Email was the preferred method
of contact by Aito companies, with customers saying their favourite channels were WhatsApp (51%) and Facebook (48%), while 30% said they did not use social media.
‘Traditional media is still the most effective way to advertise’
Companies should consider traditional media for advertising despite the perception that search and social media are the most important channels. Advertisting expert Aneil Bedi told Aito conference
delegates that chief marketing officers ranked search as the most-important channel for campaigns and advertising, with 38% saying it was “extremely important”, followed by social media (37%), email (28%), online video (24%) and mobile video (20%), according to figures from market research firm Nielsen. Print ranked third from bottom, with 8% of chief
marketing officers seeing it as an “extremely important” marketing channel. But Bedi said evidence-based research showed TV,
radio and newspapers were the most effective ways to advertise. He added: “People are coming back to traditional media because it works. I am not saying don’t use [other channels] but [you] need some balance when you develop your marketing strategy.”
28 NOVEMBER 2019
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