Drogba and Florent Malouda picked up their favourite travel magazine and dropped in on the Etihad
to have the players on the stand with us.”
Industry will get a boost
when economy recovers
Ian Taylor
ian.taylor@rbi.co.uk
Tourism growth will fall in line
with the downturn in the
economy, but the industry will
not require the government’s
fi nancial help demanded by
other sectors.
United Nations World Tourism
Organization secretarygeneral
Francesco Frangialli
said: “There will be no tourism
tsunami and we do not need a
stimulus package for tourism.”
Addressing a tourism ministers’
summit at World Travel
Market on Tuesday, Frangialli
said: “The outlook is not bright.
www.travelweekly.co.uk
“International
tourism expands
on the same
path as GDP”
But tourism fl ows from emerging
countries are increasing
and the need to travel is now
engrained.”
However, Professor Peter
Keller, director of tourism at the
University of Lausanne, warned
ministers: “It is unlikely emerging
economies will be the driver
of the world economy.
“International tourism expands
on the same path as GDP.
Long-haul travel will suffer
and, for the fi rst time, we will
see losses for high-end tourism,”
he said.
Keller predicted “a slow
downturn and a slow recovery”.
But he added: “Crises are
always limited in time.”
The UNWTO does not foresee
contraction for the industry
in 2009, but predicts growth of
up to 2% in world arrivals
against a long-term annual
growth rate of 4.2%. However,
the organisation stresses this is
an initial forecast – and foresees
tough times for the UK, suggesting
the country’s economy
will contract by 1.4% in 2009.
Opinion Be realistic and
optimistic: page 25
NEWS IN BRIEF
CLICKAIR WARNS OF
MORE FAILURES
There will be more
consolidation among low-cost
carriers operating in the
Spanish market, according to
Alex Cruz, chief executive of
Clickair, a budget carrier partowned
by Iberia. Limited
demand due to the credit
crunch, together with over
capacity will mean buyouts
and closures in the market.
PERSONAL TRAVEL
COMPANY LAUNCH
The Personal Travel Company
is to launch next year targeting
people who have lost their jobs
– even if they have no travel
experience. Agents must pay
£12,000 for a franchise,
which gets them a website
and a prepaid credit card.
SANDALS IS FACING
‘CHALLENGING’ TIMES
Sandals is feeling the impact of
the economic downturn after
reporting a 20% year-on-year
decrease in bookings in the
past fi ve weeks. Chief executive
Adam Stewart (pictured) said
the company was facing
challenging times and had
been badly aff ected by the
high price of oil.
IT’S BUSINESS AS
USUAL FOR ICELAND
The Icelandic Tourist Board
has appealed to the UK trade to
pass on the message that it is
“business as usual” for the
troubled country. Travel agents
are being asked to reassure
customers that their existing
bookings will be unaff ected,
and encourage people to visit
the country.
TELETEXT SLASHES
ADVERTISING SPEND
Teletext Holidays has slashed
pay-per-click advertising spend
by 20% as the credit crunch
hits online holiday searches.
The company insisted the
decision was a deliberate ploy
to focus on “quality traffi c” to
its site and said it was
continuing to invest in niche
markets such as cruise and ski.
CREDIT CRUNCH HITS
AIRLINES HARDEST
The economic crisis has altered
the landscape for travel, the
WTM Global Trends Report
2008 from Euromonitor
revealed. The airline sector has
been the hardest hit by the
crisis, hotel occupancies are
falling and there are signs of
downtrading by consumers
and corporate travellers.
MALAGA SPENDS
TO DRIVE TOURISM
Malaga is to invest billions of
euros in a series of projects to
boost tourism to the city and
surrounding areas. A new
terminal will be added to
Pablo Picasso airport in 2009
and a new runway added
in 2010, which will double
the airport’s capacity to
20 million passengers.
November 14 2008 | Travel Weekly | 5
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