W
JUNE JU Jet in
Jet2holidays and
Jet2.com added Zadar
Jet in Croatia and Preveza in
Greece and 19 new routes for 2020, and said holidaymakers could book with confidence following government assurances that flights to EU destinations would continue as normal. Inghams revealed a preview of its 2020 brochure in a new magazine-style format, including articles with staff recommendations and a focus on wellbeing, and added its first itinerary in Iceland.
JULY
Christmas markets breaks went on sale for the first time with Back-Roads Touring, along with new UK breaks and itineraries in Sweden and Finland, while Premier Holidays also fed into festive fever with Christmas breaks in the Channel Islands. Belmond unveiled three new Grand Suites set to feature on its Venice Simplon-Orient-Express ser- vice from next year, while Channel 5 series The Nile: Egypt’s Great River revived interest in the destination.
AUGUST
Malvern Group, parent of Super Break and
LateRooms.com, went into administration and an attempt by founder Gordon Miller to
resurrect the brand was not pursued.
Jet2.com added Innsbruck for winter 2019-20 out of Birmingham, Manchester and Stansted. The company operated its largest-ever summer flying programme to Europe.
SEPTEMBER
Classic Collection announced On the Beach chief international officer Oliver Garner as its new chief executive, replacing Nick Munday, and expanded its management team with the appointment of Michelle Baillie as agency sales director and Alexandre Gavalda as product and supply director. Thomas Cook was locked in talks
with Chinese investor Fosun over its £900 million rescue deal. Cook predicted small Turkish resorts such as
Dalyan and Ozdere would continue to grow in popularity, with Turkey bookings up 50% for winter, along with a resurgence for holidays to North Africa. However, on September 23, Thomas Cook went into liquidation with 150,000 UK customers overseas. Prices for short-haul flights immediately rocketed with the Cook capacity taken out of the market.
OCTOBER WHAT LIES AHEAD
After a challenging first half of the year, the lates market saw passenger numbers improve within the short-haul sector. The lack of competitive short-haul package product at a sustainable margin is, however, a challenge, with many agents turning to dynamic packaging through their own in-house solutions. Seeking alternative ways of adding value to consumers has
also become a key priority for every business and is likely to continue to be the case in 2020.
Julia Lo Bue-Said, chief executive, Advantage Travel Partnership
Cook’s collapse prompted rivals Tui and Jet2holidays to ramp up capacity for 2020, while BA added a Gatwick-Antalya service. Tui boosted capacity by two million seats to destinations including Turkey, Egypt, Greece and Canaries.
Jet2.com added hundreds of thousands of seats out of Manchester and Birmingham to the Canary Islands, mainland Spain, Turkey, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Greece and new destination Skiathos. Kuoni responded to demand for more off-the-beaten track locations
with new Italy product in Venice, Rome, Lake Garda and Puglia, while Cosmos revealed four new tours in its Undiscovered Mediterranean range, including two Cosmos Lite itineraries inviting agents to tailor
tours to suit their clients. > Short-Haul awards shortlist, page 62
60 November 2019
Innsbruck, Austria
travelweekly.co.uk
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