Over the past month, the Travel Weekly team has been clocking up the miles covering a wealth of conferences.
In this week’s issue, we have reports from events held by Freedom and The Co-operative PTA and the Co-operative Travel Consortium, and they come hot on the heels of coverage from conferences held by Jet2holidays, Thomas Cook, Travel Counsellors, Hays Travel and Clia, among others.
Reports from company conferences always make for interesting reading and, of course, you always expect those in charge to paint a rosy picture for the staff and commercial partners in attendance. But it has still been noticeable that all the companies involved are setting out some ambitious growth targets for next year.
Coming against a backdrop of ongoing global uncertainty, it is encouraging to see businesses remaining committed to growth, rather than opting for a more guarded approach.
And judging by an analysis of consumer confidence also in this week’s issue, it seems to be an approach based as much on rational analysis as hope.
Certainly, the levels of investment going into turn-of-year campaigns and marketing activity would suggest that many are taking a proactive approach to persuading customers not to forgo their holiday plans and agents to sell them.
And with the likes of Ant & Dec among those working alongside travel brands in the new year, you’d certainly hope that the overall vibe during the peaks will be upbeat and positive.
We have no way of knowing what challenges are around the corner, but it looks like many in the industry are planning to meet them head on.