Suppliers and agents are looking to diversify their product offering as they see strong demand for a range of travel products continuing from consumers.
Speaking on a Travel Weekly Future of Travel Forum webcast, Classic Collection Holidays chief executive Andy Freeth said he had a “long list” of potential expansion targets, with long-haul now accounting for 20% of sales for its Classic Package Holidays brand.
Freeth said Classic had recently joined the Association of Touring & Adventure Suppliers to promote its touring product, and was also seeing strong package growth in destinations including Egypt, Croatia and Morocco.
Spain, Greece, Italy and Portugal remain the company’s strongholds, Freeth said, but added it was also investing heavily in Turkey and seeing long-haul growth in the Maldives, Barbados and Dubai in addition to strong sales from regional airports.
Asked about other potential expansion areas, he said: “Is it ski? Is it cruise? Is it river cruise? Do we have a bash at the USA? They’re all unknown questions at the moment.
“I’ve got a long list of different things we can do but we do it carefully, we do it in the right way. If you launch things properly, and you get it right from the start, you can see growth.”
Designer Travel co-owner Amanda Matthews said a recent focus on cruise sales had reaped dividends, with a 12-month target of £5 million in sales achieved a month early.
She said the success of the cruise project had also encouraged the agency to explore how it could repeat the strategy for other sectors outside its core beach business.
“We won’t stop with cruise, our big focus for the next 12 months is ‘beyond the beach’ so looking at activity, touring and bucket list tailor-made, which we do already, but without really focusing on it,” she added.
Ocean Holidays co-chief executive Harry Hastings said the company’s Ocean Florida brand would continue to focus on its core areas of the US, Caribbean and Mexico.
But he said its luxury tailormade brand Winged Boots was seeing growth to South Africa and to short-haul destinations such as Montenegro as well as its core offering including the Indian Ocean and UAE.
Fred Olsen Travel retail director Paul Hardwick said the agency would continue to focus on cruise sales, including river cruise and through its recently-launched luxury division.
But he said it was also looking to utilise its database to tap into a demand for “bucket list” holidays in addition to building its business around regional airports.
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