Aito agents and operators have been urged to be upbeat and not panic despite a “severely depressed” lates market.
During a panel discussion at the Aito Agents 2014 conference, Sunvil managing director Chris Wright said sales for holidays within eight weeks of departure appeared to be suffering the most, with poor trading being blamed on excuses ranging from a late Easter to the current World Cup.
He said: “Sales dropped off in April and further in May but it seems to be a specific sector in the market – those who would travel within eight weeks of departure – that is severely depressed at the moment. It will be interesting to see if it bounces back after the World Cup.”
Agents also reported sales to be no more than “on a par” with the last time last year.
Peter Cookson, managing director of Spear Travels, added: “May and June were on a par with last year and people are booking a lot later, even for long-haul. People who would have booked a year in advance for Australia are booking six weeks in advance.”
But Kirker Holidays sales and marketing director Ted Wake said there were reasons for optimism.
“Let’s relax and not panic about the lack of demand – it will come back as soon as England is knocked out of the World Cup,” he said. “My prediction is that we will have a splendid year.”
Wake added that a decline in Russian visitors this year to destinations such as France and Italy would result in some strong offers at “top hotels” for the UK market.
“Russian clients are not travelling to Italy and France so unexpectedly we will see some good offers coming in from top hotels whereas in the last two to three years they have said the hotels were full.”
Paul Cusack, managing director of Cockermouth Travel, was also upbeat about the current market. “We had a sales dip in April but things are on the up and overall, positive. People are more confident about committing to high value holidays,” he added.
His main fear is longer term, when the older more affluent clients are replaced by a new generation of pensioners who do not have the same spending power.
“I feel the grey pound will disappear. They are our biggest spenders. But when my generation comes to retire and they have not got their final salary pension schemes [because they have been phased out], so the demographics of people spending money will change,” he added.