High street travel agents are emerging as unlikely benefactors of the credit crunch.
At the ABTA Travel Convention, PricewaterhouseCoopers partner Malcolm Preston revealed that retailers had taken a disproportionate number of the bookings for 2009 so far.
His comments were backed up by Virgin Holidays’ Stuart Baird, who said: “At the moment it’s a remarkably buoyant family market with a disproportionate amount of bookings coming through high street travel agents.â€
In an open discussion session, ABTA chief executive Mark Tanzer and ABTA board member Stephen Freudmann both said they were optimistic about the future.
“People want a place of safety in the current time and are returning to agents,” said Tanzer.
Freudmann added: “No-one has lost money in the last 15 years due to an agent failing – retailers are the safest place to go.”
Outside the session, TUI UK and Ireland managing director Dermot Blastland said the company’s current advertising campaign, which encourages people to go to TUI shops, had resulted in an increase in visitors to the outlets.
by Jeremy Skidmore
