Agency claims strong sales following ‘reset’ after Middle East escalation

Inspire Europe chief executive Lisa Henning revealed the company achieved a “phenomenal” week of bookings after encouraging agents to return to “business as usual” a fortnight on from the Middle East escalation.

 

Henning, who told a Travel Weekly webcast that bookings from Monday to Friday last week were up 18% year on year, said the agency group had overseen a “complete reset”.

 

“Naturally [after the conflict escalated], agents became nervous about promoting destinations, talking about holidays and approaching clients, so we had a reset and we have gone back to business as usual,” she said.

 

“If you think about our homeworkers and our call centre, I’m saying to them, ‘People still want to travel’.

 

“But it’s about having that belief and the confidence to say, ‘Hey, look at this great deal in Florida’.”

 

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She has also been ensuring agents highlight to clients that their trips are protected, she said.

 

“It’s about giving those key messages of support and [mentioning] the protection if it does go wrong,” she added.

 

Jetset sales director Adrian Smyth said the tour operator also slowed down its promotions in the immediate aftermath of the heightened conflict.

 

“We didn’t push out any offers in that first seven to 10 days [after February 28], but there comes a time where you’ve got to get back to selling,” he said, adding the company achieved a “good” performance last week.

 

“It does tend to suggest that people certainly want to travel,” he added.

 

He called Jetset “very fortunate” in being able to sell a wide variety of destinations.

 

“We sell the whole world and it’s at a time like this where we can pivot slightly and start to really bang the drum about how brilliant our European city breaks and beach breaks are,” he said.

 

He noted continued demand for Easter, despite the instability, as did Richardson of Aspire Travel.

 

She said: “We’re having quite a few people booking for travel in the next two to four weeks, so we’re still having an Easter peaks.”

 

She added: “The cheapies aren’t coming in, but we’re having people who want five-star [accommodation].”

 

Henning said she doubted there would be eye-catching deals this summer, adding agents would have to attract clients by explaining the level of value and support offered.

 

“I don’t think we’re seeing deals this summer at all. I think we as agents have to get the strong messaging out about protection, the support we offer and the service we offer,” she said.

 

Smyth agreed holidays are “not likely to get cheaper”, adding: “There’s a lot of airlift that’s currently out of the market to some degree, so that means that the people who can get you to certain places that you might want to go are not going to have the availability at the prices that they perhaps would have.”