Tui UK boss eyes trade team expansion ahead of peaks

Tui’s UK and Ireland boss is looking at increasing the operator’s trade team ahead of the peaks selling season as he sees “face-to-face” contact with third-party agents as “incredibly valuable”.

 

Talking to a Travel Weekly webcast at Abta’s Travel Convention, Neil Swanson, Tui UK & Ireland managing director, said independent agents will play an “absolutely critical” role in the upcoming peaks in January.

 

“Independent agents are still our biggest growing channel, and there’s an opportunity for us to do more business there,” he said.

 

He added that speaking to agents at the convention in Majorca is “really useful” feedback about what support agents want.

 

“Is the team the right size?” he said, noting agents’ praise for Tui’s trade hub and new products, but added: “There’s no substitute for some face-to-face with people in a shop. I think that’s really valuable. So we’ll be looking at that before we get to peak.

 

“Clearly, with the growth that we’re getting there, then it makes sense.”

 

 He also said Tui plans to host more events for agents at airports, instead of individual shops.

 

“You get a lot of our team and other suppliers to bring Tui to life, and we’ve had incredibly positive feedback on that,” he told the webcast.

 

“Normally, those events are with about 60 agents, so we’re going to be doing more of those.

 

“We’ve done six in the last 12 months, and we’re going to be ramping that up. It is a good way to target a lot of people in one location.”

 

Asked about agent concerns over price parity and cheaper online rates, he said: “We understand that it’s got to work for everyone and that’s where the commission bit comes in – it all depends on how much you have to discount and where we’re priced in the market.

 

“We’re not in the business of not wanting sell through agents.

 

“I’m still getting incredibly positive feedback, which is borne out by the statistics.

 

“It wouldn’t still be growing if you weren’t seeing that.

 

“The only feedback I’m getting is: could we learn more about your product? Could we have some more face to face? So that’s the bit I’ll be looking at.”

 

Tui resumed “widespread” distribution through third-party agents in September 2023 and since then sales have continued to rise.

 

Describing the move as “really incredible”, he added: “I couldn’t be happier with it. And I’ve spelt that out a number of times about why it makes sense.

 

“Logically, it just totally makes sense. These are customers that wouldn’t be coming to Tui if we weren’t working with the trade.

 

“All retail customers will generate higher average selling prices, and you’ll have more extras, and they want to be looked after, and so they tend to pay more, so they are very valuable customers to us.”

 

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