AS we move into 1999, let’s all hope that some sound business reasoning comes into trading for the New Year.
Like many of my retail travel agency colleagues, we have had to dispose of more brochures for the following year’s holidays than ever before.
I thought tour operators were desperately trying to find ways to reduce distribution costs. How much does it cost a tour operator to continually print second and third-edition brochures?
As the agent we will be penalised in the future as the conversion rate of brochures delivered against heads booked is not as high as the operator wants.
Why can’t brochures be printed with only a lead-in price? Consumers can then be advised to get the full costing from their local travel agent, which we can obtain from viewdata. As it is now, it is almost impossible for holidaymakers to accurately work out the costing of their holiday from a brochure anyway.
So please, Mr Tour Operator, let’s make ’99 a more profitable year. After all, we do work on the same side.
Dianne Baker, Wellington Travel, Aldershot, Hampshire