Changing demands More travel firms moving into cruise
G
rowing numbers of UK travel businesses are looking to expand in Europe, especially in the cruise sector.
That is the view of Cressida Sergeant,
Traveltek chief commercial officer, who notes: “We’ve seen demand from clients changing in the past year, people looking to do more across Europe, expanding beyond one market, especially into Germany. “Customers don’t want all their eggs in
one basket,” she says “They are definitely looking to expand beyond the UK. A lot of clients are looking for a cruise extension [to what they offer]. “We see an increase in cruise and in
people wanting to book cruise. There are a lot of innovations the sector. The cruise industry has been highly innovative – probably more than the hotel sector.” She points out: “German consumers are
relatively similar to those in the UK and Germany has a big cruise market. It’s still a very package-driven market, but not dynamic in its pricing [like the UK].” Sergeant adds: “Expansion in Europe is
still on the radar for us. But Europe’s travel market is so fragmented, you have to decide which market to go into and focus on that. “Our focus is on service, on fixing our
business and making it scale.” Whether interest in expansion across Europe is driven by Brexit or in spite of it is
PORTUGAL shows the highest rate
of hotel stays by international visitor nights, Croatia the lowest (Figure 51)
Cruise business is growing and demands changing, says Cressida Sergeant, Traveltek chief commercial officer
unclear, but Sergeant believes: “Whatever happens, the effect will be short term. We’ve seen one or two people decide to wait and hold off investment, but not a lot of people have said they are not investing because of Brexit. For the majority it has been business as usual.”
Businesses no longer in one camp One strong trend Sergeant identifies among clients is of businesses looking to combine cruise and tour itineraries for customers. She says: “We’ve seen demand from
clients to mix tour itineraries with cruises. We’re working on a tours system for agents which we aim to have ready for World Travel Market and will combine tour and cruise itineraries in our system from next year. That is as a response to demand.” Sergeant notes: “It has been no small
task, but we should have clients live on the system in the fourth quarter of this year.” She adds: “Our cruise bookings are up
from agents and tour operators, although that line is increasingly blurred. We don’t really distinguish between them. We have a range of clients and a lot of them don’t fit into one bucket. “Businesses don’t just sit in one camp.
They might sell packages to consumers and have a B2B portal through us. There can be a difference in the functionalities enabled, but we don’t differentiate
FIGURE 51: INTERNATIONAL VISITOR NIGHTS BY ACCOMMODATION TYPE % of nights
1% 6% 18% AUSTRIA 76% 51% Hotels
Holiday/Short let Campsite/Caravan park
CROATIA 28% 21% 24% GREECE 75% NETHERLANDS 30% 60% PORTUGAL 88% 10% 6% 6%
Source: Eurostat
Travel Weekly Europe Report 2019 | 33
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