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Short-Haul


From Scandinavia to ski, the short-haul sector is booming, with plenty of new product to sell


The year got off to a headline-grabbing start for Ryanair when the low-cost airline signed deals with On the Beach, Tui, loveholidays and Kiwi. com to allow the online agencies to offer its flights to customers as part of their package holidays.


That also led to On the Beach-owned operator


Classic Collection announcing in September that it would start offering Ryanair flights through its network of 3,000 travel agent partners, enabling agents to sell a much wider selection of regional departures and thousands of new package holidays. The operator said it would be creating a dedicated contact centre team to service bookings featuring Ryanair components.


SHORT AND SWEET? While this improved distribution for some UK travel firms, for a handful of short-haul destinations, the effects of overtourism continued to be felt. Demonstrations were seen this year in Barcelona, Majorca and Tenerife, while Venice introduced new laws in June curbing the size of tour groups to 25 people.


Porto Operators have nonetheless been focusing on their


Europe programmes. EasyJet holidays added Corsica and the Spanish town of Sitges to its package holiday portfolio, while tailor-made operator Audley Travel introduced the Balearic islands of Ibiza, Menorca and Majorca, plus the Greek island of Corfu. In June, to celebrate its 50th anniversary and capture


a share of the short-break market, luxury operator Inspiring Travel added nine cities to its range, including Amsterdam, Berlin, Budapest, Munich, Porto and Vienna. Many villa specialists have also expanded their offerings


for those wanting a home-from-home. Jet2Villas added Costa Verde in northern Portugal to its portfolio, while Abercrombie & Kent introduced a collection of luxury ‘private estates’ in Tuscany for summer 2025. Solmar Villas, meanwhile, which was acquired by Kuoni


parent Der Touristik UK at the start of the year, has been working closely with the trade throughout 2024 to promote its ever-expanding villa collection in Greece. The operator hopes almost a quarter of its sales will come through the trade by next year.


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