INSIDE THIS


WEEK Contents


NEWS Hot Stories


Heapy happy to pay more commission; Cook suffers £58m slump in profits; Thorne Travel releases festive sequel; Rita Hunter victim voices her anger; Homeworkers ‘to eclipse agencies’


WIN!


Round-up Online chat; Abta Trends Report; Kuoni 08 MSC backs Chelsea FC; Reuben’s Retreat 10 Cruise Nation recruits; Travel Designers 12


A two-night trip to Disneyland Paris during Legends of the Force season page 36


Special Report


Aito Overseas Conference 2018, UAE Talk Back


EasyJet Holidays, Brexit, STA/Cook


NEWS YOU CAN USE Product Tui, Disney, Wizz Air


Cruise MSC, Aurora, NCL, CMV 14 17 04 21 22


Operator Intrepid, Shearings, Gold Medal 24 Training OTT & Medical Tourism Assoc 28


FRONTLINE Comment Gemma Antrobus, Haslemere 30


A Day With… Broadland Travel, Norfolk 32 Mystery Shopper Grays, Essex


40


FRONT COVER Thomas Johnson, RAKTDA UK; Vanda Bauer, Classic Collection Holidays; Bridget Keevil, Travel Stop; Gemma Antrobus, Haslemere Travel; and Derek Moore, Aito


page 14 PHOTO: KARL JEFFS


DESTINATIONS Caribbean


Saint Lucia: Sample its natural charms 42 Underrated Islands: Anguilla, BVI et al


53


Middle East Stopovers: Top tips for short trips


58 Bahrain: Pearls, forts and Formula One 64 BUSINESS


Travolution Business Breakfast Leadership in the digital age


70 29 Nov WHAT


LUCY DID THIS WEEK


1


Lucy Huxley Editor-in-chief @Lucy_Huxley


Hosted a Travel Weekly Executive Lunch with MSC Cruises’ Gianni Onorato, before hearing about its new partnership with Chelsea FC


2 3


Met with three great, and very different, companies this week: Neilson Holidays, Temptation Holidays and Sound.


Dressed up as Dolly Parton for the ‘Superstar’ night at the Jet2holidays conference in Turkey – and met Spandau Ballet legend Martin Kemp!


29 November 2018travelweekly.co.uk3


A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR A welcome pledge T


his week, I travelled to Turkey with 270 independent agents for the fourth Jet2holidays conference.


As you would expect, the operator was in bullish form as


it urged its agent partners to sell more of its holidays, and to do so with confidence on the back of robust financial results and reinvestment in the business. Although he couldn’t have known, the timing of this particular message from chief executive Steve Heapy was particularly pertinent, as his departure from the stage coincided with my team back in the UK reporting on Thomas Cook’s latest profit warning (page 5). Cook’s announcement had an immediate impact on its


share price, and with the cashflow dip of winter coming up, the outlook for the travel giant is unlikely to get rosier in the short term.


All of which meant the contrast with the upbeat


messages coming from Turkey was particularly stark. Heapy admitted there were headwinds for the industry.


Brexit aside, he cited cost inflation, currency exchange, rising interest rates and taxation as potential banana skins. But it was also encouraging to hear him pledge to use Jet2holidays’ growing voice and influence to help the sector as a whole navigate the potential turbulence ahead. Fresh from playing a major role in lobbying the


government over fraudulent sickness claims, Heapy said he would now be turning his attention to persuading politicians to halt the decline of the high street and return town centres to places where people want to gather and shop. There may be some tough times ahead, but


that particular pledge will come as a welcome and positive piece of news for agents at the conference and beyond.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80