The new UK boss of Tui is “incredibly pleased” with sales via third-party agents, one year on from the travel giant’s move to woo independents.
Neil Swanson replaced Andrew Flintham last month as managing director of Tui UK & Ireland, a year after the company’s wholesale change in its approach to sales.
When asked on a Travel Weekly webcast about how much more third-party business the company is now seeing, he said: “It is significant double-digit growth.
“I am really pleased with the amount of growth we’re getting; it is a bit more than I expected, and I’m really pleased with that.
“We’re coming up to the year anniversary, when we saw the relaunch, so it’ll be interesting to see that growth.”
He admitted it has “taken some time to persuade some people to trust us” but said he was receiving some “really nice feedback” from agents.
“We have got 17 people out on the road, going around, talking to people,” he told Travel Weekly, during the Travel Convention in Greece.
“If you want to talk to us, someone will come and talk to you face to face, and hopefully engage you and explain what’s involved and hopefully get you on board.”
He said Tui has trained 1,700 agents so far about its products, including its hotels, regional flying, free kids offers and kids’ clubs – and 170 third-party agents have been on fam trips to experience Tui’s holidays.
“It gives them a different dimension in terms of product for when the right customer comes through the door,” he said.
Swanson also hopes a new Tui reorganisation will help to convince even more agents to sell its products.
A new group-wide operational structure was unveiled last week, with Tui’s core package business complemented by dynamic packages and single components.
The Germany-based group also aims to increase personalised offers and increase its ancillaries.
“[The new structure] will mean there are so many great products to choose from in the Tui range that you’d hope it would persuade more people to give us a try,” he said.
He explained how the revamp aims to drive more growth through third-party airlines, more bed banks and other third-party products.
“We will have a much broader product offering, with lots more accommodation, lots more flying,” he said.
“The core is still our curated Tui products but there will be loads of flexibility added.
“We’re still doing all the things that customers love – flight-only, cruise, river, cruise, ski tours, all of those bits are there.
“What we want to do is cross-sell and upsell customers across that whole product range.”
More: New Tui UK&I boss to ‘keep watching brief’ on capacity
Tui reorganisation ‘will not affect trade relations’, says new chief
Neil Swanson to take helm at Tui UK
Tui urges agents to ‘give us a chance’ as it outlines engagement plans [September 2023]