THOMSON has made a dramatic U-turn on its much hyped no-discounts
message on core summer 2002 holidays, just three weeks after launching the initiative.
Discounts of 10% have been introduced on its Summer Sun, Skytours,
Thomson Florida and Thomson Greece holidays in a drive to kick-start early
bookings for next summer.
Managing director Shaun Powell denied abandoning the “common-sense
pricing” introduced in its fourth-edition 2001 brochures and said it was
responding to feedback from agents.
But he could not rule out a possible increase on the 10% in
later edition summer 2002 brochures.
“We have concluded from the first couple of weeks that we
need to give some of our programmes a decent start. We think the discounting
message will help agents close the sale with early family bookers,” Powell
said.
Travelcare head of sales Amanda Williams said Thomson have
not given their 0% discount policy enough time to see whether it works.