THOMSON Holidays deputy managing director Shaun Powell attacked the industry for lack of imagination at the launch of a series of innovations he claimed would revolutionise its holidays.
The move follows Thomson’s exhaustive 18-month study into the needs and demands of customers. At the heart of the overhaul is a plan to tailor-make more than 1m holidays and to revamp its resort services.
The project, dubbed Operation Bug in reference to the millennium, has led to a multi-million pound cash injection on new product and overseas staff.
“There has been a one-size-fits-all approach to holidays,” said Powell. “As an industry we were developing holidays to fit all types of customers and have not kept pace with changing demands. We have started personalising holidays.”
He added resort services are currently not designed around customers. “We should fit around them,” he said.
Among the innovations will be “millennium experiences” including swimming with dolphins, while a team of actors will be on hand to take holidaymakers on interactive excursions, including taking part in 1970s wedding scenes.
Powell added some of the new personalised holidays will cost more than traditional packages.
n Thomson brochure review, page 5; Analysis, page 6; and Backchat page 70