Changing demands Moving into cruise


between tour operators and agents.” Sergeant explains: “We provide tools for


agents to put together packages. We invest in technology, but our agenda is to improve agency tools.” Increasingly, she says these tools are


becoming more like “consumer-facing tools”, arguing: “You have younger people coming into the industry who expect the tools to


COASTAL BATHING SITES % rated ‘excellent’


FIGURE 52: 100 90% 92%


20 40 60 80


0 Source: Eurostat 2018


COASTAL BATHING SITES Number rated ‘excellent’


FIGURE 53:


1,000 1,500 2,000 4,500


500 0 4,382 1,812 1,632 1,549 938 790 453 397 313 112 Source: Eurostat 2018


Italy Spain France Greece Croatia Denmark Portugal UK


Germany Cyprus


3%


6% 3%


12% 7%


12% 14% 80% 63% 97% 96% 87% 94% 85% 99% 87%


look like consumer tools. We are modernising the look and feel of ours so agents can look and search. We will enhance the B2B tools on our iSell platform. “People will see a new look and feel to


iSell next year and the new tours product this year.”


Personalisation is hard Tools may be changing but what about the drive for personalisation of offers and prices in retailing? Sergeant questions whether there


has been as much progress in this area as claimed. She says: “People talk about personalisation but I’ve not seen anyone doing it successfully yet. For example, we’ve not seen anything new in the market when we look at hotel search. “Personalisation is hard. It is done on


GREECE, Cyprus and Croatia show the highest proportion of coastal bathing sites rated ‘excellent’ (Figure 52),


Italy has by far the highest number (Figure 53) and highest proportion of all sites in Europe (Figure 54)


FIGURE 54: % OF EU COASTAL BATHING SITES


1% 2%


Other 4%


36%


Younger people coming into the industry expect the tools to look like consumer tools. We are modernising ours so agents can look and search. We will enhance the B2B tools on our iSell platform next year


34 | Travel Weekly Europe Report 2019


people’s search patterns. I’m about to go to Ibiza for four days with my husband. I’ve just come back from a holiday with my family as a mother of two kids. Then I’m off to Australia for work. It is very difficult for an algorithm to put that together and make sense of it.” She says: “I hear people talk about personalisation but we are no further forward.” Where Traveltek does offer personalisation, Sergeant explains, is when “agents say ‘We want to work with these particular hotels’.” She adds: “Ultimately, the agent brings


the personalisation by using their expertise. We give them the tools.”


Italy Spain France Greece


Denmark Croatia


Portugal


Germany UK


Cyprus EU


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