NOT all holidaymakers are keen to settle for a fortnight lounging by the pool.
A growing number of people want to leave their hotel and explore the surrounding countryside, sampling the local customs and cuisine. And taking your car with you is an increasingly popular way to do it, as Keith Swift, managing director of Motours knows.
Swift is confident that the European motoring holiday is a growing market. “The driving has become easier over the years as the motorways have improved. And the quality of accommodation is rising all the time. For example, mobile homes and the facilities within them are so good nowadays, they’re equipped with microwaves, washing machines etc and are as comfy as a home,” he said.
The company offers holidays in Ireland, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Holland, Switzerland, Belgium and Austria, ranging from two-night breaks to two-week skiing trips for eight people.
Most customers are attracted by the company’s skiing holidays in the winter and by its French camping programmes in the summer – Motours has 35 camping sites in France. Clients who don’t fancy staying under canvas can opt for a room in a luxury French chateau or family-run hotel.
Swift identified three different kinds of European motoring client. “There are those interested in the short break, a maximum 3hr30min drive from the ferry. Then there tends to be two other kinds. One is the skiing kind, who drives through the night to be on the slopes at 8am on Saturday morning. Clients who travel in the summer have a different viewpoint. They set off in the day and want to book accommodation en route.”
Swift admits that European motoring holidays are a difficult product for agents to sell, but thinks they are missing out on potential earnings.
He said: “Agents don’t seem fully aware that there’s much of a market. But when a client walks in and asks for a ferry crossing, it is an opportunity to upsell a full package” he said.
The key to building up a sale is knowledge of local ferry routes and what’s on the other side of the channel. The more agents know about a destination, the more confidence they will have in selling the product to a customer.
As for skiing holidays, Swift urged agents to promote the money-saving advantages. He said: “A skiing holiday can be very expensive but driving obviously saves on the air fares and you can take your skis, or whatever else you want, in the car.
“And these days, with enlarged ski passes, if you’re staying in one resort, your lift pass often lets you ski in other areas. With a car, you can easily reach the other areas that you are paying for in the pass. And if the snow is not good, then you can move on somewhere else,” he added.
Motours has been working with travel agents for around three years including roughly 500 independent retailers. The company has run in-house training for small chains, informing them about the Motours product, and is keen to do more. Motours hopes to exploit the growing popularity of the European motoring holiday. “Clients just have this amazing flexibility because you have your own car there, and you can’t beat that freedom,” says Swift.