PICTURE: ISTOCK
DESTINATIONS DYNAMIC PACKAGING
Can DIY
survive the
downturn?
Airline capacity has fallen
and the availability of beds
off ered by principal status
brokers has contracted. So is
there really a future in
dynamic packaging for
high-street agents? Jackie
David fi nds out
Things aren’t looking too
rosy for the global economy
generally, nor are the
prospects for any UK
industries particularly
heartening. So it would come as no
surprise if dynamic packagers were
bracing themselves for a gloomridden
2009 – especially in the light of
so many high-profi le airline collapses
and the decision of a number of bed
banks to drop their principal status.
The fact is, not only do consumers
now have to weight their desires for a
holiday against the fear of unemployment
and higher mortgage repayments,
they also have to think twice
about spending precious cash on a
trip that could see them stranded
abroad or, equally distressing, failing
to leave the country in the fi rst place.
All of this is bad enough for
bonded, straight-down-the-line travel
agencies selling conventional
packages, but what about agents who
dynamically package? How will they
face an increasingly
sceptical customer
base in the face of
dwindling airline
capacity and a
shrinking pool of
reliable bed banks?
Pre-credit crunch,
consumers
were
blithely
oblivious of the
pitfalls of forking out
for a tailor-made trip without the
security off ered by a credit card
booking and ATOL bond. But now,
with the recession biting, and a
host of travel company collapses, it
wouldn’t be unreasonable to predict
the demise of the dynamic package.
Or would it?
For Flyglobespan chief executive
Rick Green some of the sector’s aches
and pains are more market correction
than market meltdown. “The
unfortunate demise of suppliers will
help off set the reduction in demand
for the remainder of suppliers. The
hope is that there will be a rebalancing
of supply and demand,” he said.
The key issue for agents is
transparency. Green said: “The
customer needs to be aware of risks.
Most dynamic packagers operate with
diligence. Getting an ATOL is key, I
guess, and the consumer needs to be
aware of the need for protection.”
Flight availability
Phil Bird, director of technology
company Red2, has already noted
a reduction in fl ight inventory
and, consequently, in agent and
consumer choice. He suggested
the pain could be eased
by a loosening of the
policies of some low-cost
airlines. “It’s obviously
benefi cial to the agent to
be able to off er low-cost
carrier fares. But
diversity of choice has been
50 | Travel Weekly | November 21 2008 www.travelweekly.co.uk
reduced, which has a knock-on eff ect
of strengthening the position of main
stream operators.
“It would seem to make sense for
the industry to react, but it also would
seem to be reasonable justifi cation for
that change to come from the low-cost
operators as a means of strengthening
their business model.”
Hotels4u.com sales and marketing
director John Harding would also
like to see the low-cost carriers open
up their inventories. “We have
noticed a decrease, not only in fl ight
Bird calls for ‘loosening of low-cost
airlines’ policies’
To view a Ceros magazine you need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser and have the flash player 8 or higher installed. To install the latest flash player, click the icon above, install the flash plugin and then click here to refresh this page.