The mix of destinations offered by B2B supplier Gold Medal has mostly returned to pre-pandemic patterns, with strong growth seen in several long-haul countries.
Simon Applebaum, managing director, told a Travel Weekly webcast that Australia has returned to being in Gold Medal’s top three destinations, after reopening to tourists earlier this year, while Thailand has also bounced back.
“Australia [is] doing fantastically; we’ve seen a real resurgence lately in Thailand, which was another core destination for us,” he said.
He said Japan is “tricky” now, with strict rules about group tours, and China remains closed to tourists – but added these were not core destinations.
“What we’re seeing now is a return to broadly where we were before the pandemic, but with some really strong growth areas,” he commented.
“We’ve certainly seen in the Indian Ocean, Mauritius and Maldives…a big swing in our business, because they were open sooner.
“They’ve just got much better at understanding the UK market and seized that opportunity.
“We benefit from our role within the dnata group of having access to remarkable hotel inventory and absolutely enormous possibilities.”
He added: “We’re always looking at our destination mix. We’ve got people going out to Israel in the next few weeks to have a look at that as a destination.
“We’re out in the Indian Ocean at the moment…looking at new properties and islands out there.”
He said Gold Medal has also invested “heavily” in its web platform over the past 18 months to make online bookings easier for agents.
“The share of our business that agents are booking for themselves has absolutely skyrocketed,” he said.
Easy changes to bookings, such as name changes, can be done online, which saves agents having to call and wait on hold.
Applebaum said Gold Medal will remain the group’s flagship brand but it is also investing in the technology and marketing for sister brands Cruise Plus, Pure Luxury and Incredible Journeys.
He said the cruise business has picked up more sales from several specialists who have moved away from packaging cruise-and-stay holidays with their own Atol and are instead offering their clients itineraries under the Gold Medal Travel Group Atol.
Picture: South Australia by totajla/Shutterstock