Operator: Airtours
Brochures: Summer Sun, Cruise, Greece and Turkey
Lead in prices: £279 for 11 nights in Turkey; £239 for seven nightsself-catering in Greece; £499 for seven nights standard inside cabin on the cruise ship Carousel.
Airtours is aiming to capture a bigger chunk of the family market with the launch of its summer 2000 short-haul brochures.
The operator’s Family First Holidays concept aimed at families with children under four years old has been extended to a further six resorts, taking the total number of Family First resorts to 10.
The introduction of 100,000 guaranteed free child places will also strengthen the operator’s standing in the family market, according to Airtours sales, marketing and development director Ed Sims.
Historically around 70% of the company’s early bookings have been family oriented, but since the launch of Family First that figure has risen to 80%.
Sims said the expansion of the programme would increase the proportion to 85% next year.
“Family first has been an expensive initiative for us but it has helped us make inroads into the customer bases of our competitors. We have seen a 20% increase in sales in hotels where Family First has been applied, ” said Sims.
Free child places and early bookings offers giving up to £100 off per couple in the four new brochures will protect customers from price hikes imposed by hoteliers cashing in on millennium fever. “We were experiencing a 3%-7% cost increase from hotels in the Mediterranean. Early booking offers will shield loyal customers from the impact of price rises across the region,” said Sims.
The operator has also focused attention on building business from regional airports. “We are trying to spread availability westwards and northwards – increasing the choice of destinations from Prestwick, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Cardiff and Bristol. Regional flying will rise from 25% to 45% over the year,” said Sims.
Despite the increase in customers travelling from the regions, overall capacity will not increase significantly. “The growth will come from rejigging business at Gatwick and Manchester,” said Sims. The four brochures, Summer Sun, Cruises, Greece and Turkey, have been given a design overhaul to make them easier to use. “The introductory pages have been cleared up to make them less cluttered,” said Sims.
Airtours is predicting growth of just 2%-3% for its new brochures as it takes a conservative approach to summer 2000.
Deputy managing director Richard Carrick said investment in the summer 2000 programme has been focused on expanding its Family First initiative rather than introducing new product.
“We have not added any new European destinations to our summer 2000 brochures,” said Carrick. “As a result capacity will remain steady.
“We are taking a cautious approach. The last three years have been the most successful in terms of tour operators meeting customer demand,” he said.
“There is no need to flood the market – it disturbs the whole equilibrium of supply and demand.”
A second phase of launches is planned for July. “These brochures will be a new style based on holiday type rather than destinations,” explained Carrick.
TEN and 11-night holidays in Majorca and Cyprus have been added to the First Choice Summer Sun programme for 2000.
The operator is also featuring a new flexi-dine option which allows clients on a 14-night holiday to take seven nights of a half-board holiday on a bed-and-breakfast basis and eat out in resort.
Programmes on sale from May 4 are Summer Sun, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Portugal and Madeira, and Villas and Apartments. A new Family Plus programme, a spin-off from Summer Sun, is also on sale.
Head of product marketing Kyle Haughton said the new brochures are similar to summer 1999, but they have been redesigned to target the mass-market and families, more upmarket clients, and special holidays.
“Research shows us that affluent adults don’t want to be spoken to in the same way as families,” he said.
“These are the tried-and-tested resorts as people booking know now where and when they want to go. We will add new resorts in later editions.”
Haughton was unable to discuss price changes or capacity due to the Airtours’ bid, but said he believed the programmes are competitive.
Lead prices to Cyprus and Greece are £143 and £165 per person respectively for seven nights’ self-catering including early-booking discount.
First Choice is offering discounts of up to £180 per couple and tens of thousands of free child places.
Haughton said bookings to Greece and Turkey have been hit this year, but said both resorts traditionally book late. “Cyprus has not seen a slowdown,” he added.
Brochure: Summer Sun
New product: 10 and 11-night
holidays in Majorca and Cyprus;flexi-dine eating for 14-night holidays at selected short-haul resorts; taxi transfers to selected hotels.
Lead-in price: £130 per person for seven nights’ self-catering in Majorca.
CAPACITY growth, new resorts and a youth product all form part of Cosmos’s summer 2000 programme as it looks to shake off its outdated image.
The operator is aiming for a 10% increase in business with its new management believing a younger style will help fuel the growth.
Its Summer Sun and All Inclusive brochures have both been revamped with the company using a millennium sunflower to highlight the new look.
The launch has been supported by agent promotions with Cosmos looking to strengthen relationships with retailers.
“We will run a range of events and competitions to reflect the start of our ongoing commitment to working more closely with the retail trade,” said sales and marketing director Paul Riches.
Prices have been increased by around 2%.
The operator’s new Great for Friends product has been launched for the single market featuring accommodation not available to families while ‘Your Choice’ properties – those which have scored highly on customer satisfaction surveys – are also highlighted.
The Greek island of Zante is new with the resorts Laganas and Argassi featured.
Cosmos managing director Nigel Wright said the new team was not in place to totally revamp the first edition programme but will have a greater influence for the second edition.
Brochures: Summer Sun, All Inclusive
New product: Resorts of Laganas and Argassi inZante, Cosmos Gold and Your Choice properties, new all inclusive properties at Hotel Poseidonia Beach in Cyprus, Esmeralda in Minorca and Nautilus Beach in Fuerteventura, seven day Nile cruise, and kids clubs.
Lead in price: £209 for seven nights’ self-catering at the Apartments Los Peces in Salou departing May 1-11.
Operator: Thomson
Brochure: Summer Sun, Skytours, All Inclusive
Lead in prices: £149 per person for seven nights’ self-catering in Ibiza or from £315 for a family of four; £269 per person for seven nights’
all-inclusive in Majorca.
Thomas Cook operator critical of Thomson plan to increase share
Thomson is offering 30 destinations in the Mediterranean, Canaries and Egypt in its 2000 Summer Sunprogramme.
The new brochure also covers a variety of holidays including Thomson Gold and Thomson Superfamily.
Meanwhile, the operator has savings of up to £200 per couple in its All Inclusive brochure, which covers 28 destinations. No cut off date has been set for the offers in the brochure which covers the period November 1999 to October 2000.
In its Skytours brochure the operator is guaranteeing a free child place for every family and has lead-in prices of £99 for one week in Ibiza. Single parent or large families also qualify for a free or reduced child places.
All three brochures will carry details of Thomson’s loyalty scheme launched on the back of the new credit card. The scheme allows customers to earn one point for every £10 they spend on the credit card, a joint venture with MasterCard and credit card issuer Capital One.
Each point can be redeemed through any preferred agent for 5p off the price of a Thomson holiday booked after January 1 2000. There will be a minimum redemption of £10 or 200 points. The loyalty scheme will be applicable to special offers and late bookings. Applications for the card which has an APR rate of 9.9% until October 1999 are included in the brochures.
THOMAS Cook has taken a swipe at Thomson as in-house operator Sunworld announced it will not follow the market leader’s move of hiking capacity for summer 2000.
The criticism follows Thomson’s decision to flood the market with cheap holidays next year in response to Airtours’ bid for First Choice.
“It is not in anyone’s interest to destabilise the market with an excessive volume of holidays than is greater than demand,” said Thomas CookUK tour operating managing director Simon Vincent.
“To be number one in terms of profitability is a far more satisfying achievement than being number one in terms of capacity or market share.”
Sunset’s 2000 programme has also been held at 1999 levels, said Vincent. Prices have increased by an average 2% on 1999.
Sunworld’s capacity freeze comes despite the integration of Inspirations into the programme.
It has retained seven of Inspirations hotels, included two from Sunset and added 17 further properties.
Offers include free child holidays, group reductions, single parent offers and two weeks for the price of one. The programme is aimed primarily at the family market which accounts for 70% of the early booking market.
Vincent added that Sunworld’s flying programme from Gatwick will be increased with the slots held by Caledonian – now part of the Thomas Cook group – fully utilised. Sunset also has an increased flying programme and concentrated on the early booking two and three star accommodation in its first edition.
Also launched are Sunworld’s All Inclusive programme which has added 17 properties.
THOMAS Cook has taken a swipe at Thomson as in-house operator Sunworld announced it will not follow the market leader’s move of hiking capacity for summer 2000.
The criticism follows Thomson’s decision to flood the market with cheap holidays next year in response to Airtours’ bid for First Choice.
“It is not in anyone’s interest to destabilise the market with an excessive volume of holidays than is greater than demand,” said Thomas CookUK tour operating managing director Simon Vincent.
“To be number one in terms of profitability is a far more satisfying achievement than being number one in terms of capacity or market share.”
Sunset’s 2000 programme has also been held at 1999 levels, said Vincent. Prices have increased by an average 2% on 1999.
Sunworld’s capacity freeze comes despite the integration of Inspirations into the programme.
It has retained seven of Inspirations hotels, included two from Sunset and added 17 further properties.
Offers include free child holidays, group reductions, single parent offers and two weeks for the price of one. The programme is aimed primarily at the family market which accounts for 70% of the early booking market.
Vincent added that Sunworld’s flying programme from Gatwick will be increased with the slots held by Caledonian – now part of the Thomas Cook group – fully utilised. Sunset also has an increased flying programme and concentrated on the early booking two and three star accommodation in its first edition.
Also launched are Sunworld’s All Inclusive programme which has added 17 properties.
Programme: Summersun
New product:Regional flights from Bristol, Cardiff, East Midlands, Newcastle, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Stansted
Lead price: £145 for one week self-catering at Cala San Vincente in Majorca.
MULTIPLES have unveiled their summer 2000 campaigns with offers of cash discounts coupled with free insurance.
Going Places has up to £300 off per couple plus free insurance, while Thomas Cook is also offering up £300 off with free insurance on holidays over £149.
Lunn Poly is guaranteeing £200 off per couple – including insurance – on brochured Thomson short-haul holidays with an average cost of at least £299 per person. The offer rises to £300 on long-haul holidays worth £449 per person. Travel Choice has discounts of £350 off per couple and free insurance with owner First Choice, Cosmos and Virgin Sun.
Thomson: offering 30 destinations in Summer Sun programme
UNIJET has increased the number of UK departure airports for next summer to meet growing demand for local flights.
There are seven new departure airports in Summersun, with three each in the new Greece and Turkey brochures.
Hopley said Summersun features 371 extra properties with the biggest increases in Lanzarote, Tenerife, the Algarve, the Costa Blanca and Turkey.
He was unable to discuss capacity because of the Airtours’ bid, and said prices were up slightly on 1999.
Hopley said Unijet has expanded to Turkey, with 73 extra properties plus a a new seven-day all-inclusive gulet cruise between Marmaris and Sethiye from £309 per person.
Lead price to both Greece and Turkey is £169 for seven nights self-catering.
Brochures: Sunworld Summersun, All Inclusive, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Tunisia, Portugal. Club18-30 also live onviewdata with brochure due in June.
New product: 26 new properties including seven from Inspirations and two from Sunset. Increased flying, particularly in the north and Scotland, with 15 new routes. Sunset has 28 new routes from 15 airports.
Lead in price: £179 for seven nights self catering at the Club Marthas or Villa Concha in Palma between April 1-7.