Relations with UK independent agents are “sacrosanct” for TUI Travel, according to chief executive Peter Long.
Speaking at ABTA’s Travel Convention in Barcelona, the head of Europe’s biggest tourism group told agents: “You are key partners. That will not change. Independent retailers are a key part of the UK industry.”
However, Long added: “We need the right balance. We want to provide all channels [of distribution] to our customers.”
Pressed on whether the group would make further cuts in agents’ commission, Long said there were no plans to do so.
“It is not our intention to squeeze anyone,” he said. But he added he could not determine what his management teams might do, and said: “We have to compete with the low-cost carriers.”
Long said he has no intention of merging or extinguishing brands and would retain the First Choice and Thomson names.
“We have two very strong brands among more than 200 in the company,” he said. “It works because of the scale of the business. If we merged into one brand we would lose volume and profit. Where you have seen [brand] failures in the past it was due to companies absorbing brands into one.”
- More coverage of the Travel Convention 2009