EasyJet holidays has so far “just scratched the surface” in terms of trade sales, according to chief executive Garry Wilson.
Wilson told Travel Weekly’s Future of Travel conference the trade remains a growth opportunity for the operator, which first put packages on sale through independent agents in August 2020.
“The customers that go into the high street [agencies] are different to the ones that book online. We have just scratched the surface with them,” said Wilson.
The UK budget airline’s in-house tour operation expects to carry 1.1 million holidaymakers this financial year and is targeting £100 million-pus pre-tax profit in the medium term.
Wilson said the operator had to communicate with agents to find out how it could support them and what new routes and products clients wanted.
He said: “We need to engage with agents and see how we can support them across the country. There are huge opportunities that will present themselves and we need to be positioned to take them.”
Dnata Travel Group UK and Europe chief executive Alisa Pollard said its brands had seen a “big growth” in business from homeworking agents and urged the trade to seize opportunities post-Covid as more consumers turned to agents to book.
“Agents can really create that personal trust for customers,” she said, adding online companies had yet to be able to provide the same level of personal service and attention to detail as agents.
She cited a new market of younger clients now going to agents to book and encouraged the trade to show these customers their worth to ensure the shift towards agents continues “longer-term”. “It is agents’ time to shine and a lot of them are,” she added.
Jet2holidays and Jet2.com chief executive Steve Heapy said agents remained “an important part” of the company’s business. “There is a huge future for high-street agents,” he said, adding he had been impressed by agents’ efforts to survive the pandemic.
