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Endacott backs new low cost ski operation
Saturday, 26 Oct, 2009
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A new online specialist tour operation to Andorra aims to cut the price of ski holidays by using a range of low cost carriers and privately organised shuttle bus transfers.
The Andorra Traveller has been established by The Internet Traveller, backed by a number of industry big hitters including On Holiday Group CEO Steve Endacott.
The aim is to will focus on providing value for money ski holidays to travellers struggling with the “exorbitant cost” of skiing in better known winter resorts.
Endacott said: “Andorra has suffered the same fate as mainland Spain, with the big tour operators gradually pulling out and hoteliers not knowing how to exploit the huge low cost capacity into airports such as Barcelona, Toulouse, Gerona and Carcassonne.
“The market is therefore ripe for the Andorra Traveller to package these flights up using their Freedom group ATOL and transfers arranged via their local in resort staff.”
The Andorra Traveller will be marketing holidays based mainly on price with comparisons to other more expensive resorts.
An extensive series of price comparisons of the total cost of a ski holiday has been calculated including in resort spend.
The company claims that once spend in resort is taken into account, ski breaks to Andorra for a couple are more than £1,000 or 43% cheaper than an equivalent holiday to the Three Valleys in France.
Company founders, Craig Kean and Charlie Clark, are both ski enthusiasts. Kean has first hand experience of Andorra having been a rep there for several years.
Their experience has allowed them to employ a resort-based operational team, who will arrange ski tuition, evening entertainment and local advice.
Kean said: “Our strap line is ‘For Skiers by Skiers’ and we believe that we can bring a highly personal service to both the booking process and the in resort experience.
“The linkage between the two will allow the Andorra Traveller to build a highly loyal customers base, who will allow us to expand rapidly based on personal recommendation.”
Clark added: “The key to being a successful online retailer is to find a niche and then to build repeat customers and recommendations via excellent service.
“Any agent who thinks they can do this acting purely as a retailer is sadly deluded and living in the past.
“We are building our customer base not just from Google, but by working with local bars and hotels to exploit their email database and to provide extensive and cost effective advertising.
“This can only be done if you provide an end to end service, which is something most retailers using dynamic packaging tools seen to forget”
The Internet Traveller has claimed turnover of £1.3 million in its first year of trading despite the credit crunch.
by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
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