Hays Travel Independence Group has outperformed all other group divisions in the last year and reported the start of a shift in its product mix with a slightly smaller share of short-haul holidays as more cruises were sold.
Chief operating officer Jonathon Woodall-Johnston told this year’s Hays Travel IG conference the group had performed “exceptionally well” in the 2024-2025 financial year to date.
The group’s sales were up by 17% year on year while passenger numbers were 13% up and there has been a £4 profit per passenger increase for the period from May 1, 2024, to March 15, 2025.
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“IG has outperformed all divisions of the group [homeworking, retail, virtual contact centre],” he said, adding: “One of the key things we are focusing on is the growth in passenger numbers. It’s really pleasing to see how the growth of the IG group has continued.”
Woodall-Johnston urged IG agencies to continue to push cruise sales and reduce their reliance on major short-haul operators as he reported a slight dip in the group’s proportion of short-haul sales and increase in the share of cruise sales year on year during peaks.
He stressed the extra profitability of selling long-haul or cruise holidays as the group overall continues to target a third of sales each from short-haul, long-haul, and cruise holidays.
“For every £1 you put into the market, is it best to put that into short-haul or better in cruise or long-haul?” he asked IG members.
The percentage share of short-haul sales for Hays Travel IG dropped from 49.7% for December 2023 to February 2024 to 48.3% for December 2024 to February 2025. Cruise sales rose from 13.8% of sales in December 2023 to February 2024 to 15.23% of sales in December 2023 to February 2025. Long-haul sales stayed the same at 34.4%.
“The real success has been cruise; we have increased our share by [nearly] two percentage points,” said Woodall-Johnston.
Head of IG Harriet Thompson put much of the group’s strong performance in peaks down to members working evening and weekend shifts.
More than 50% of business during peaks came in between 5pm and midnight, according to the group. “We really saw the strength in evening trading and more people being available on Sundays,” she said.