Mass-market travel agents could be squeezed out of the ski market because they lack specialist knowledge. Crystal Holidays managing director Stuart McLeod said bad training often means customers know more about ski holidays than the average high-street agent. Speaking at Crystal’s Ski Industry Report 2005, McLeod said: “Agents do not have the product knowledge to add value for clients. Ski consumers are more knowledgeable and more sophisticated and they will be looking for agents who are too.” He said specialist agencies such as Ski Solutions are better able to cope with consumer demands while more general agencies – which represent half of Crystal’s ski sales – are falling behind and could account for just one in five sales by 2010. McLeod denied the operator would actively court more direct business and urged agents keen to stay ahead to attend more ski educationals. He also warned that mid-market operators which are not large ski operators or niche could struggle to survive in future. He claimed First Choice Holidays, Neilson and Airtours Holidays, which each had 40,000 to 55,000 ski customers for 2004/05, would be worst affected. Erna Low, Esprit Ski and Balkan Holidays are well positioned to further increase their market share thanks to their specialist knowledge, he added.
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