Comment: Summer might be in full swing but we’re already looking to 2013

By Kathryn Ward, retail director at Tui UK

As Olympic fever hits the nation, we have been rounding up all ?the sustainable activities that ?took place for Make Holidays Greener month.

Our shops have had volunteers from around the business giving tips to customers to help them make more sustainable choices when they are on holiday.

And we have been promoting Waterpebbles, which you can put in your shower, at home and on holiday, to help save water.

While the summer 2012 season is in full swing in our shops and overseas, here at head office our thoughts have been on summer 2013 with our second-edition brochure launch, which went live last week.

We have some great additions to the brochures with new destinations, new hotels added into our exclusive holiday concepts, and new regional routes for Thomson Airways.

As a Yorkshire local, the new routes from Leeds Bradford are especially exciting for me as it's a great airport. Our agents are delighted too, as they sell mainly regional routes and flying from a local airport saves customers money in parking and petrol costs.

I have just come back from a holiday in Greece with my family. We stayed at the Porto Village, part of the Sani Beach Resort, which was just wonderful.

I was thrilled to hear the Greek government has appointed a new tourism minister who is keen to invest in marketing campaigns in the UK.

Greece is one of my favourite countries to visit and one of Tui UK's biggest destinations, so I'm really pleased the government is prioritising tourism again.

In terms of the market to Greece, early in the season there was no doubt that the media coverage had an effect on consumer confidence. It's now out of the headlines and is performing as we'd expected.

Our customer service satisfaction scores are showing that customers are having a great time there, with overall scores for holidays up compared with last year.

Historically we have invested a lot in Greece and next summer we've introduced a new Thomson Couples hotel in Crete and a new Holiday Village in Kos, so we have confidence that Greece will continue to do well.

Another destination that has bounced back is Tunisia, which is where Tui will have its retail conference in November.

I went there a few months ago and was hugely impressed by the quality of its hotels, the cultural attractions and activities it offers, so I am pleased all of our shop managers will get to experience the destination first hand.