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Advantage admits drop in holiday turnover
Advantage Travel Centres has seen a £500m drop in leisure turnover this year, it was revealed at this year’s annual conference in Malta.
Chief executive John McEwan said the consortium’s £3.5bn annual turnover was the same as last year, but only £2bn came from the leisure side of the business compared with £2.5bn last year. Corporate business made up the £500m shortfall, increasing to £1.5bn this year.
Members have seen an 8.5% rise in corporate sales, in a market that is broadly flat year-on-year.
Advantage leisure director Julia Lo Blue-Said said the figures reflected a shift in Advantage Travel’s business mix.
"Our leisure members aren’t necessarily seeing a fall in business, but our mix changes all the time and the fall reflects that change."
However, McEwan admitted mainstream leisure bookings were down 6% – against a market that has falled 8% – but he said Advantage had seen a "huge growth" in leisure sales.
"People tend to see the TUI or Thomas Cook figure but it doesn’t describe what is happening in luxury and other markets," he said.
"The same thing is happening in cruising; mainstream cruise operators are having a difficult time, but specialists are doing remarkably well."
Advantage revenue from its leisure business is up 5% compared with last year. "That’s pretty good as far as we are concerned," said McEwan.
He said Advantage agencies would become increasingly important to independent tour operators who face being squeezed out by travel giants TUI and Thomas Cook.
"Thomas Cook-Co-op is putting more pressure on the group to sell more in-house product, and we are seeing the same with TUI, which has said publicly that it wants to grow its controlled distribution, which is already at 80%.
"It’s crucially important for independent operators to have an independent retail chain, and we fit that bill."
by Linsey McNeill
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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