THOMAS Cook has vowed not to dilute the independence of Worldchoice despite looking to double business through the 700 ARTAC shops within 12 months.
In an interview with Travel Weekly at the consortium’s conference in Jersey, retail managing director Andrew Windsor said he will “offer incentives, cajole and encourage” agents to push products but stressed they will not be forced to directionally sell.
However, in a seemingly veiled threat to ARTAC members, he added: “Of course, we are looking for a growth in business and if it does not happen I will be talking to ARTAC chairman Colin Heal.”
Windsor said Thomas Cook branded products, currently only sold through its own retail chain, will be made available to Worldchoice to help boost sales.
ARTAC currently accounts for 3% of Sunworld’s total sales. The operator is looking to grow that to 6% by 2000 and ultimately to 9%.
“But we are not looking to take control of your business and do not even ask for guaranteed racking,” added Windsor. “The only discipline we are looking for is that if agents say they want to participate in a promotional campaign they actually do so.
“We can give ARTAC access to management and marketing skills and shall be negotiating with the major operators on behalf of ARTAC to secure better deals. I am sure we can make ARTAC shops more profitable.”
He stressed that unlike Going Places, which is ripping up existing contracts and re-negotiating deals for Advantage, contracts with operators will be honoured “so long as they are legallybinding.”
Turning to technology, Windsor said an interim reservations system is being developed for Worldchoice while Thomas Cook’s state-of-the art Rio 2 system is adapted for the chain.
“We have no idea how much the interim measure will cost as negotiations with suppliers have only just started,” he said.
Agents will not be forced to take Rio when the system is ready, said Windsor, but added that IT investment is something everyone will have to make.
Some aspects of Carlson’s new system, which was designed last year, will be integrated into Rio 2 for ARTAC although it is expected the ú7m invested in the system will largely be written off by the change.