There is good news for the travel trade despite the current economic turmoil, delegates heard at the ABTA Travel Convention.
Travel agents are enjoying increased footfall, more companies are applying to become ABTA members and the high street has increased its share of holiday bookings.
ABTA chief executive Mark Tanzer said 30 companies have applied to become ABTA members in the last fortnight.
Tanzer said: “There is no doubt the level of interest in financial protection has risen following the collapse of XL Leisure Group; more people have applied to become ABTA members. There are worries the same thing might happen again. It will push people back to agencies and back to strong brands.”
Triton Travel Group chairman Steven Freudmann added: “Agents have emerged stronger and have shown themselves to be resilient.”
PricewaterhouseCoopers partner Malcolm Preston highlighted figures from data specialist Ascent MI, which showed winter package holiday prices are 10% up, while volumes are down 2%-3%, and volumes for next year are 5%-10% up.
He added: “The high street has taken a disproportionate amount of bookings for summer 2009. The high street has held its own, if not come back a bit.”
