CONFERENCE REPORT Atas Touring & Adventure Virtual Week:Operators focus on plans for recovery next year
Atas operators say certainty will be key to 2021 revival
T
ouring and adventure operators have “largely written off 2020” but believe 2021 will be “the
start of a strong bounceback”. Members of the executive board
of the Association of Touring & Adventure Suppliers said they expected a resurgence when certainty returns to the travel market. Cosmos chief executive Giles
Hawke said: “There’s a lot of consumer confidence that they will be going on escorted touring holidays next year. 2020 is largely written off for everybody because of the uncertainty over travelling. But for 2021, we’re seeing a lot of the people we’ve had to move from this year very happy to move to next year. “A lot of them have already
confirmed bookings, while a number have said they’re going to leave their money with us; they know they want to book, they just want to wait.”
There is a pent-up demand and as soon as people have certainty, we’ll see bookings come back pretty quickly
Kerry Golds, managing director
of Abercrombie & Kent and Cox & Kings, said: “We’ve also written off 2020 but we are seeing a lot of holidays rebooked into next year. “There’s a little bit of hesitancy
still around Q1 and around some of the destinations that we feature – the more long-haul destinations like India and South America – but certainly for the latter part of next year, there seems to be a lot more confidence.” Golds said rebookings accounted
for around 75% of business but added that she was also seeing a “spike” in 2022 bookings.
‘Tell customers about holiday impact’
Agents have a responsibility to tell customers about the impact on the environment of their holidays, according to tour operators with sustainability pledges. G Adventures’ Jamie Sweeting said the industry could return
more sustainably when travel restarts, but he was “sceptical enough” to suggest mass-market firms would “sell the heck out of” certain destinations. He said consumers had “more power” in travel “than ever before” and could “choose companies that do it the right way”. Intrepid Travel’s Zina Bencheikh predicted a “long-term
recovery”, noting: “Even if demand comes back the same, maybe people will go to places that are completely different?” Rachel Coffey, of Costsaver, Trafalgar, Insight Vacations and Luxury
Gold parent The Travel Corporation, said: “People who go to Italy will want to go to Venice, but [tourism] will come back better. Consumers are thinking more along those lines. It’s up to agents, and us, to educate so they understand the positive impact of going on trips with our firms.”
Newmarket Holidays chief
executive Niel Alobaidi said: “Uncertainty is the biggest challenge we have. Trading is way down but it does fluctuate up and down very quickly as that certainty [over a destination] changes. “There is a pent-up demand and
as soon as people have an element of certainty, we will see bookings come back pretty quickly. The key question is ‘what will constitute certainty?’” The panel agreed that small group
sizes and ‘stay-in-one-place’ tours would reassure customers when they start travelling again. Brian Young, G Adventures’
UK managing director and Atas chairman, said “customers are changing” and “want experiences over stuff”. He said the touring and adventure sector must target a new type of customer who has realised they want “more from their holidays” during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Touring and adventure holidaymakers ‘plan to spend more on trips next year’
Research suggests holidaymakers planning touring and adventure getaways in 2021 are prepared to spend more to ensure safety amid forecasts the sector is “likely to bounce back” in the long term. Mail Metro Media readers were
polled this month as part of the media group’s partnership with Atas. Seven out of 10 respondents
said they were yet to book a 2021 holiday but that they intended to take an average of 2.1 holidays next year. The poll also found the preferred average group size was nine people.
10 29 OCTOBER 2020 Results suggested 22% of
consumers were happy to spend a bit more in 2021. This inclination was more marked among younger respondents, with 27% of those aged 18-34 saying they were happy to spend more, compared with 26% of 35-54-year-olds and 12% of those aged 55-plus. Mail Metro Media’s travel
account manager, Robertina Tompa, said the data showed a “huge appetite for this type of holiday” and that the touring and adventure market was “likely to bounce back” in the long term.
travelweekly.co.uk
Giles Hawke
Kerry Golds
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