As we head into 1999, there’s no doubt that the playing field for the travel market is very different to last year.
Insurance delinking, vertical integration and the overall economic climate are all playing their part, with the result that major retailers’ summer ’99 promotions look quite different from this time last year.
After relying on the same format for discounts and offers for many years, the delinking has led to an injection of new ideas as the multiples attempt to differentiate their products. Thomas Cook, for instance, has introduced free foreign exchange for the first time.
Consolidation of the travel industry has also meant that for the first time ever, all three major high-street travel agents have launched post-Christmas TVcampaigns, focusing on their own product range.
At Thomas Cook, we are particularly pleased to be offering our headline discounts on the vast majority of Sunworld, Flying Colours, Sunset and Club 18-30 brochures.
This is complemented by Thomas Cook Holidays programmes under the Signature banner.
So, how are customers reacting? Well, if you listened to the doom-and-gloom merchants who seem set on talking the UK into a recession, you’d be forgiven for thinking that our consultants have been less than busy over the past couple of weeks.
The truth, however, is far brighter. Sales have got off to a slow start, but this is mainly due to the way that Christmas and New Year holidays fell this season, which makes year-on-year comparisons extremely difficult.
Also, other high-street retailers have been holding extremely aggressive New Year sales, which have diverted attention, but we are confident that, as the goodies on the clothes racks start to fade, the market will pick back up so that we will end January flat or even slightly up on last year.
And, in the midst of all the summer frenzy, we are still seeing a fair number of customers looking to escape the storms sweeping across Britain for a spot of last-minute winter sunshine, or some time on the piste.
We are also extremely encouraged by the level of demand for winter 1999/2000 holidays, with bookings at Thomas Cook up by more than 30 per cent.
All in all, things look fairly positive so far. Recession? What recession?