Longwood slams agents for failing to encourage travel

Red Sea sales tumble as war in Afghanistan continues Brochure delayed to negotiate rates

Longwood slams agents for failing to encourage travel

Report by JULIET DENNIS

Suffering: Caplin, inset, says Eilat bookings plunged 75% the week after the terrorist attacks

LONGWOOD Holidays has accused agents of failing to give support in its hour of need.

The operator said agents were not encouraging clients to travel to Israel or Egypt as they mistakenly thought these destinations were under threat due to the war in Afghanistan.

Managing director Rafi Caplin said: “They should support us and behave responsibly. I feel agents have not really encouraged people to travel.”

He added: “Eilat is empty, which is a shame. It should be saleable but it’s suffering because agents are putting it in the same pot as other Middle East destinations.”

But ABTA reacted by saying agents could only respond to their clients’ needs.

A spokeswoman said: “With all the goodwill in the world it is difficult to persuade people to go to places they don’t want to go to.”

Longwood is the biggest UK operator to Israel and has almost halved its capacity to Eilat this winter. Its 2002/03 Israel brochure has been delayed until after Christmas as the operator tried to negotiate rates with hoteliers at World Travel Market last week.

Longwood plans to reintroduce its weekly Manchester to Eilat flight from December 24, which will fly via Luton. No decision has been made on 2002 capacity.

The crisis has put pressure on sales and reservations staff to work harder at persuading customers that it is safe to travel.

Bookings plunged by 65%-75% in the week after the US terrorist attacks, but have now recovered to 25%-35% down.

However, Cairo, Luxor and Nile cruises were still badly affected by the crisis, according to Caplin. He described it as “probably the most difficult time” he had experienced in his 25 years in the industry.

&#42 Longwood is to expand its Spanish programme to help lessen the impact of a downturn in bookings to its coredestinations. The operator has a small upmarket programme to Marbella in the Costa del Sol and Tenerife, but is now looking to move into Majorca.