Tour operators are feeling more confident about their businesses following a good summer this year and strong forward bookings for next summer.
Companies at this year’s Aito conference in Malta said they were “very optimistic” about next year, a sentiment matched by reports by financial investment experts BestInvest that 2014 would be “an economic bright spot”.
Fiona Marshall, general manager of adventure travel specialist KE Adventure Travel, said: “I feel the most optimistic I have felt about our business than I have felt in the last five years. It’s creating economic confidence.”
The global recession during 2008 and 2008 had forced KE Adventure Travel to become “leaner and meaner”, she added, and widen its product range to attract a broader customer market.
Derek Moore, chairman of Aito, said “There is a mood of optimism among delegates; people feel we are now climbing out of the recession. It is definitely the most buoyant mood since 2008.”
Sunvil chairman Noel Josephides said: “Everyone has had a very good year, and over the last three to four years everyone has had to sharpen up their act.
“Forward bookings for 2014 are looking very good. Stability seems to be coming back in the currencies, in the UK economy, and everyone can plan and work steadily.”
But he added: “For Sunvil, we have to move forward by taking greater risk. We have to take [charter] a whole aircraft to differentiate what we do. Our biggest competition is from online travel agents that do not pay VAT.”
Operators admitted winter sun holidays were not particularly strong, which could demonstrate consumers were not yet ready to take more than one main beach holiday a year.
Classic Collection head of marketing Vanda Bauer said: “If winter doesn’t pick up a bit now that we are in the lates market, we might end up with less sales than last year.
“But from our point of view the Foreign Office advice on Egypt being lifted makes a big difference. That will save us for this winter.”
The operator has just enjoyed its best summer ever, with bookings up 11% on last year, with next summer already up 18% year on year. “I think the penny has dropped with consumers to book early,” she said.
But Bauer warned that an improved economy would mean more competition for existing operators. “There will be more entrants to the market,” she added.
Some Aito affiliate partners were more cautious about next year.
Phil Norris, of A2B Travel Extras, voiced concerns the recovery had a southern England bias with less optimism in the north of England, where there are lower levels of investment and growth.
Richard Atkinson, partner of travel financial consultants Atkinson Lambert, said: “People are very positive but while we can see recovery, how sustainable is it?”