Hays Travel IG members have been urged to avoid becoming too heavily reliant on sales of discounted holidays in this year’s lates market.
The message was delivered at the group’s UK conference amid fears of price-slashing during May and June by major operators ahead of the peak school holiday as a result of over-capacity in the market for this summer.
Hays Travel chief operating officer Jonathon Woodall-Johnston (pictured) told IG members: “Don’t run your business on discount messages. We have seen some of the operators [discounting]. If you are heavily reliant on that it could cause a problem in the future.”
He added there was evidence of over-capacity with a reduction in average selling prices in recent weeks as operators cut their prices to sell remaining stock.
“We have had additional promo codes and discounts for summer 25, and additional free child places to stimulate the summer market which would indicate there is an issue with over capacity and not enough holidays sold,” he said.
As the group continued to encourage IG agents to sell more cruise and long-haul holidays, he insisted: “We don’t want to become reliant on short haul operators.”
Head of commercial Claire Gibson similarly stressed: “As a business we need to make sure we are not relying on one supplier.”
She added: “We are seeing suppliers still doing campaigns to stimulate the market; I think it will be a very interesting summer 2025. With long-haul holidays, it’s not that aggressive price match market.”
Head of IG Harriet Thompson said aggressive market conditions had driven heavy discounting during peaks and made it hard to increase average selling prices.
But she was confident the family market would return to book in the lates market and urged members to seize opportunities, particularly to sell more long-haul and cruise holidays.
She said: “We know the cost of living crisis has been affecting the family market. But we know this is now on the bounce. The family market is on the turn, make sure to take the opportunities. It’s not just short-haul, it’s also long-haul and cruise holidays.”