No-surcharge pledges and price promises are helping restore consumer confidence, although bookings are still coming ‘significantly later’ than usual and customers are still nervous, agents say.
Speaking at the Advantage conference in Madrid, Advantage Travel Partnership CEO Julia Lo Bue-Said said no-surcharge promises from tour operators, along with reassuring messages from UK airlines and Government reassurance on fuel supplies had ‘come at the right time’.
“That positive announcement has started to help,” she said. “We’ve started to see customers being a lot more confident on the back of that.”
Jet2 was the first company to launch a no-surcharge promise, in a move that West Yorkshire-based Idle Travel Director Tony Mann described as a ‘hallelujah moment’ after weeks of uncertainty in an ‘extremely fragile’ market.
Tony, who is Jet2’s top agent in Yorkshire, said bookings in April were ‘significantly down’ but had improved during the first two weeks of May, following the wave of no-surcharge announcements from operators and airlines.
He said a combination of the cost-of-living crisis, fuel prices, political instability in the UK, the introduction of Entry/Exit Systems (EES) and conflict overseas had created ‘a perfect storm’, leaving consumers hesitant to commit.
“It’s one of the most fragile states I’ve seen the industry in,” he told Travel Gossip, but added that he was confident business will continue to pick up following the price promises.
“We all need positive news and reassurance,” he added. “There are some great prices last minute and no surcharges now.”
Lincolnshire-based Inspire Travel by Shaun owner Shaun Taylor said no-surcharge promises were ‘important’ and ‘the right thing to do to stimulate demand’, although he said they weren’t relevant for many customers, since people aren’t booking far in advance.
Another Advantage attendee, Travelosophers Head of Sales Nisha Bean, said homeworkers have been using the announcements to reassure existing customers who have already paid deposits.
Away from the Advantage conference, other agents said the pledges have boosted business.
Faye Harrison of Cotton Lounge Travel in Kingston upon Hull said: “When Jet2 , easyJet and TUI made the announcements, it brought a lot more security to clients, which has resulted in more sales for me.
“When they made their own individual announcements, it felt like they had our industry’s back and I feel that customers are happy with the pledges, as they have come direct from the suppliers.”
Hartlepool-based Coconut Travel Director Claire Smith said: “This is the message we’ve been pushing a lot across our socials recently. Since we started focusing more on the ‘book with confidence’ messaging, we’ve definitely seen a positive shift in business.
“March was honestly quite tough for us, April was better, and so far in May we are up year-on-year, which is really encouraging.
“A lot of our business at the moment is coming from footfall into the shop alongside social media messages and phone calls.”
