Mike Greenacre, managing director of The Co-operative Travel, told yesterday’s WTM Vision conference: ‘I’m less optimistic now than I was a couple of months ago.
‘I have not seen it flicker into life as we expected.’
In a survey earlier this year by the agency, 80% of consumers had said they were going to book – if their jobs were safe.
Greenacre said Spain would benefit from a strong lates market but commented: ‘Spain has to turn itself on, and soon, but I am still concerned about that – there are no signs of people changing their views about booking.’
Ignacio Vasallo, director of the Spanish Tourist Office in London, agreed Spain would be the choice for many late bookers because of the ease of finding flights and reasonable prices.
He told the conference in London that airlines to Spain were forecasting the destination would eventually end the year just 7% down, compared with 13% currently.
‘We are suffering in Menorca as it is family orientated and families are going to Turkey. We are also suffering in the Canaries because of the cost of flights,’ Vasallo added.
‘In winter, we were 30% down but ended 3% down. I hope to end summer 2009 7% down thanks to late bookings.’
Greenacre said The Co-operative Travel’s revenue was down 9% with passenger numbers 14% lower year-on-year.
However, according to market intelligence specialist GfK Ascent, which polls TUI, Thomas Cook, The Co-operative Travel and other agents, the average selling price across Europe is £44 ahead of last year at £658. A total of 4.3m passengers have been booked, compared to 4.9m last year.
‘Primarily it’s traditional package holidays as there is a swing back to packages after the XL collapse as people want more security,’ added Greenacre.
See also:
TUI UK introduces coach/excess bag fees on lates (01/06/2009)
Thomson revamps shop displays to woo lates (29/05/2009)
Sterling boost for late bookings (28/05/2009)
Sol Melia pins summer hopes on late bookings (13/05/2009)
Greenacre’s ‘difficult decisions’ pay off (06/05/2009)