Travel Weekly’s ten ‘agent reporters’ will be giving us their perspective on the Travel Convention 2010 throughout the event
The Loose Talk discussion group was a great debate and included heads of industry such as Paul Evans, Oliver Brendon, Hugo Burge, Roger Allard and Victoria Sanders.
Paul Evans commented that all companies have to “go corporate” as they grow to help keep running smoothly. In addition he said the travel industry “should be ashamed of ourselves” for not having a robust protection plan in place for our clients.
Oliver Brendon disagreed with Evans’ view on protection, saying that 98% of all transactions were protected by the cover offered by the credit and debit card companies.
Brendon also mentioned that getting merchant services from banks was getting harder as a lot of banks are risk averse when it comes to travel companies, however they will back good businesses.
Hugo Burge said it was “harder to capture the imagination during a recession”.
Victoria Sanders from Teletext Holidays said that analogue TV was their “cash cow” and they were obviously taking a big risk when they turn it off. However she commented that they need to move away from their “legacy brand” and create a new meaning to the term Teletext Holidays.
She also commented that they were traditionally a 2D proposition, however with the opening of their high street stores, they were becoming a 3D brand to their customers.
- Agent Reporters are sponsored by Belleair Holidays, Air Malta, Malta Tourism Authority and Abta
