Get on the blower, say travel bosses

Travel companies have been told that in the digital age one of the most powerful selling tools they have is the telephone.

Low Cost Travel Group chief executive Paul Evans, speaking at the Barclays Travel Forum in central London, said sales conversion rates were so much higher on the telephone than via websites.

“It’s something that’s not often talked about, but I would urge companies to use the telephone,” said Evans.

“People want to book after 5pm and on the telephone and the conversion rate on the telephone is around 20 per cent compared with 1 per cent on websites. So drive people to the telephone.”

Fellow panellist John McEwan, the chief executive of Advantage Travel Centres, said businesses needed to be able to offer people the chance to book through all channels – shops, telephone and internet – but revealed there was a return to the high street last year.

“People wanted reassurance that their money was safe after the collapse of XL,” he said.

“There’s also a social dynamic to shopping – people like to go out and talk to other people in shops.”

McEwan said its corporate business had grown in 2010, while Evans said technology had helped his business grow fast and around 44 per cent of sales were for all-inclusive holidays, because people wanted to be able to budget during tough economic times.

Fellow panellists Joanna Edmunds, the managing director of Kuoni UK, and Stephen Park, the UK general manager of Norwegian Cruise Line, were both optimistic about sales in 2010.

Edmunds said that so far the year had been challenging, partly because of the ash crisis, while Park admitted there was a lot of capacity to sell in the cruise market, which can affect prices.

A pre-recorded video, featuring various prominent members of the industry, revealed differing views on the market.

Chris Photi of White Hart Associates, Roger Allard of All Leisure and Andy Cohen of the Civil Aviation Authority, all said 2010 had been challenging, but they were optimistic about prospects for 2010.

Richard Carrick, formerly of Hoseasons, said it had been a very difficult year and predicted 2011 could be one of the toughest ever, while Alan Murray of Monarch admitted it had been tough and, although he was optimistic for the long term, said trading could remain challenging in the short term.

Chris Galanty of Flight Centre and Olly Brendon of ATD Travel Services both said 2010 had been a good year and expected the trend to continue.

Sarah Smalley of GFK Ascent said that sales to Turkey had been particularly strong in 2010.

By Jeremy Skidmore