NEWS
IN BRIEF
Aldi Travel reviews
customer offers
Aldi Travel has stopped taking
new bookings, claiming it is
“currently reviewing” its offer
to customers. A spokesman
for the company said: “Aldi
Travel proved popular with
customers and sales have
performed well throughout
2009. However, the UK
travel market is becoming
increasingly competitive and
we are working in consultation
with existing partners to
make sure we can continue
to offer market-leading
deals.” Holidaymakers who
have already booked will
still be able to travel with
the company, it said. Aldi
launched its travel site in
January 2009.
Bevan predicts move
away from high street
Agencies will increasingly
move away from the high
street to locations with high
footfall such as supermarkets,
Ickenham Travel director John
Bevan has predicted. Bevan
was speaking on Monday
at a Chartered Institute of
Marketing Travel Industry
Group debate called Travel
Agents – Are They Past Their
Sell-by Date?, hosted by ABTA
chairman John McEwan.
Bevan cited the example of
Teletext Holidays, which has
opened its first site in a Tesco
store, as a sign of the shift in
the retail market. “Less and
less people are going to the
high street. We will see travel
agencies opening where there
is higher footfall, where they
can grab people when they are
doing their shopping,” he said.
For more on these
stories go to
travelweekly.co.uk
6 | Travel Weekly | January 29 2010
Record bookings week
reignites sales for 2010
Edward Robertson
The trade enjoyed its best
week of summer 2010 sales
last week.
The latest official booking
data from GfK Ascent-MI
revealed that the week ending
January 23 was the strongest
yet for summer 2010 bookings
with 34,000 more sales
made than during the same
week in 2009.
There were also signs of a
revival in the family market
after it accounted for about
one-third of bookings made.
The Co-operative Travel
director for retail distribution
Trevor Davis confirmed the
week had been a success after
the chain recorded its best-
“Consumers want
summer sunshine
and the only way
of being sure of
getting that is to
go overseas”
ever day of trading on January
16, followed by its second best
on January 23.
He said business picked up
last week as the bad weather
abated and consumers who
did not take a foreign holiday
last year decided to book
this year.
Davis said: “Consumers
want summer sunshine
and the only way of being
sure of getting that is to
go overseas.”
Advantage Travel Centres
commercial director Julia Lo
Bue-Said said the number of
passengers booking summer
2010 package holidays last
week was 20% ahead of the
previous year, with Turkey and
Egypt proving strong.
She added that this was
largely due to concerted
consumer advertising and
marketing campaigns by tour
operators and retailers.
Worldchoice operations
director Bill Pickering said
the consortium was yet to
see a resurgence in the family
market as couples were dominating
sales.
But he added that overall
passenger numbers for
summer 2010 were 15.5%
ahead of this time last year.
Global Travel Group managing
director Dave Clayton said
summer 2010 sales last week
were 22.6% up.
GfK Ascent-MI managing
director Sarah Smalley said
although passenger numbers
for summer 2010 remained 6%
down year on year, revenue
was up 1% as travel companies
targeted profit over volume.
She added: “This is a
performance that those operators
and retailers driving it
should be very proud of.”
Butlins signs up TV
stars for holiday fun
Butlins has signed up The X Factor and Britain’s
Got Talent stars to provide entertainment at all
three of its resorts this summer.
The X Factor stars Stacey Solomon, Danyl
Johnson, Jamie ‘afro’ Archer and Lloyd Daniels
will all be making appearances over the school
summer holidays at its Bognor Regis, Skegness
and Minehead resorts.
Britain’s Got Talent stars Stavros Flatley and
Faces of Disco have been lined up for all 2010
School’s Out Breaks. Britain’s Got Talent 2008
champion George Sampson will also be
performing dance routines as part of his George
Sampson’s Street party act, scheduled for every
weekend family break in 2010.
www.travelweekly.co.uk
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