The Co-operative Travel is less optimistic about the late booking market for this summer than just two months ago, managing director Mike Greenacre has admitted.
Greenacre, speaking at the inaugural WTM Vision Conference, warned that the lates market had so far failed to kick in as expected.
He said: “I am less optimistic than I was a couple of months ago. I have not yet seen it [the mainstream holiday market] flicker into life.
“We were expecting that to happen, and we remain concerned about the lates market.”
His optimism had been based on research with the group’s own customers, which showed the majority would still book a summer holiday, he added.
He blamed the lack of late sales on external factors, including the swine flu outbreak in Mexico. The group, which includes 412 high-street travel agencies, as well as a consortium of 135 agencies and 500-plus homeworkers, had 3,500 holidaymakers due to travel to Mexico by the end of June.
He said: “A number of customers used the opportunity to cancel and didn’t rebook.”
The Spain market – which represents 35% of the group’s total business – remained a major challenge for this summer, he added.
But Greenacre was optimistic late-booking holidaymakers would choose Spain because it was accessible and still represented “good value for money”.
“There is a lot of work being done by the Spanish tourist board to generate better value product than has been the case in the years when Spain was a constant growth market. For the lates market, Spain has to turn itself on, and very soon. I think Spain will see a strong recovery relative to everywhere else,” he said.
Spanish Tourist Office director Ignacio Vasallo told conference delegates the whole market to Spain was down by 13%, while the major tour operator market to the destination was down as much as 30%.
- Co-operative Executive Interview – Mike Greenacre [Travolution]