NEWS SPECIAL REPORT


Members of the Association of Touring &


Adventure Suppliers’ agent engagement committee met in London last week. Robin Searle reports


Atas members report


A growing number of agents are making touring bookings for the first tie aording to sppier eers of the ssoiation of oring  dventre ppiers.


A range of members said they


had received enquiries and made bookings through new agents in the peaks period, establishing broader relationships within the trade.


Janet Parton, sales director at Cosmos, said: “We are seeing a lot of new Abta numbers in our booking data, which shows that more agents are recognising the opportunities on offer from the touring sector. “We make sure we make personal contact with all new agents to uild on those first sales Rachel Coffey, sales director at


G Adventures, said the operator was seeing particular growth through home-based agents. “Some agents don’t necessarily


see themselves taking a touring or adventure holiday, so they don’t necessarily find it easy to sell to their customers she said


“We’ve changed our marketing and seen the best agent engagement ever”


“As the understanding of


the sector grows, we see that translating into business through more agents, and for us that is particularly coming from homeorkers Members agreed there was still


a lot of work to be done to educate agents on the scale of the touring and adventure sector, but they were encouraged by the numbers who were starting to embrace it as a core part of their businesses. Sarah Weetman, head of


trade sales for G Touring brands Travelsphere and Just You, said: “Touring suppliers have really upped their game. Agents really want to know what each operator is offering, and that is allowing them to sell ith more confidence


12travelweekly.co.uk31 January 2019


“A great example is Lincolnshire Co-op, which turned its cruise show into a cruise and touring show as it recognises the opportunities in the sector Andrew Turner, head of industry


sales at Intrepid Travel, said: “We have changed our approach to marketing for independent agents and we’ve seen the best agent engagement we’ve ever had. Traditionally we would have focused purely on the tour element, but now we are including flights and pre and posttour elements to create a clearly priced flightinclusive offer He added: “Some agents stick


rigidly to their core products, so we’re encouraging them to look beyond that and saying ‘at the moment you’re purely a cruise agent, but you could be a cruise and touring agent and you could e earning a lot more


Peaks trading


Suppliers said they were largely encouraged by early 2019 trading, with little sign of a Brexit impact.


Simon Lynch, sales director


at Abercrombie & Kent, said: “We are really pleased with how our escorted touring product is selling. Normally we would see tailor-made outperforming touring at this time of year, but it is the other ay round Wendy Missenden, UK


marketing manager at Collette, added: “We’ve seen an increase


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