airtours holidays to scrap big discounts

AIRTOURS Holidays is shaking up the industry where Thomson failed by scrapping major headline discount campaigns.

Summer prices are cut by 30% compared with this year as discounts are worked into second-edition 2003 brochures. Airtours claims the price people see is what they pay.

Managing director Seamus Conlon said: “We are putting clarity back into the business of buying holidays. We’ll take on the operators and completely change the way holidays are priced. The brochure becomes more relevant as we are shifting the emphasis from discounts to brochures.”

Thomson’s no-discounts policy was axed in May last year – three weeks after a high-profile launch – after in-house retailer Lunn Poly was torn between backing the strategy and promoting deals from other operators.

Conlon, who at the time called Thomson’s efforts “futile”, pledged to make his plan work. “This is not a short-term strategy. We are spending large amounts explaining it to customers,” he said.

Airtours is pouring £5 million into its second-edition campaign, which launches brochures and advertising on Thursday. Posters and billboards will attack its rivals on price and, in Thomson’s case, on extra costs for aircraft meals and transfers under a ‘We cut prices, they cut corners’ slogan.

The move means Airtours’ 2003 prices are down 15% from the first edition. Those who have already booked will be refunded.

Brochures still include deals for early bookers and free child places, but Conlon was adamant there would be no headline discounting in the run-up to summer 2003.

“Discounting is out of hand – customers are cynical about it and that’s the main reason for doing this,” he said. “We’ll have everyday low prices in brochures and will not have high reductions. We are abandoning high promotion discounts.”

The Airtours stance was backed by independent agents, which have been denied discounts in the past. United Co-op Travel Group general manager for strategy and commercial development Mike Russell said: “We will call on others to follow suit. Airtours will face real pressure, but we hope it sticks to it.”

However, rivals rubbished the strategy and promised to respond aggressively. Thomas Cook managing director of tour operations Manny Fontenla-Novoa said: “Airtours is wrong. This did not work for Thomson, or for Cosmos and Travelcare.”