Interview: Gary David, managing director, Cadogan Holidays

Cadogan Holidays managing director Gary David has admitted 2002 has been a terrible year for the trade.

And he’s warned that travel agents can only prosper by tightening their belts, becoming more professional and charging fees for their services.

David said a combination of factors had made this a year to forget.

“It’s been very strange. We’ve had the World Cup, Wimbledon, the Queen’s Jubilee and terrorism and the year has never taken off” David told TravelMole.

“At the moment no-one is going into travel agents. We’ve heard that people are spending a third more this Christmas, but it’s not on travel.”

David believes that agents now need to start trimming their expenditure, particularly with the prospect of war on the horizon.

“When we had the last war, companies started preparing afterwards by making all kinds of cuts, but they need to do so now. There could be some really tough times ahead.”

David believes that agents have to charge fees to survive, but can only justify them with a professional service.

His travel agency currently charges for everything that costs less than £1,000.

“When you go to a lawyer, an accountant or a dentist, you know you will have to pay money up front, but it’s ridiculous that agents offer their services for nothing,” said David.

“But you can only charge if you are offering a professional service. We need more training and more education for staff.

“If you go to a lawyer, you wouldn’t expect an inexperienced 16-year-old to be handling your divorce and similar levels of service are not acceptable in the travel industry.”

David believes the market is currently saturated and unless independent retailers can service customers properly, they are doomed to failure.

“People are competent on the Internet and enjoy booking holidays in that way,” he said.

“Independents have got to ask themselves ‘are they offering anything different?'”

David claimed members of consortia need to be more selective about the operators they work with and concentrate on pushing them. In return they will earn decent levels of commission.

“You can typically have an independent selling 300 operators. It just doesn’t work. You’ve got to wittle it down to around 60 or 70, so you have got some good quality suppliers in each sector.

“You can still be independent and offer a choice, but you can’t be all things to all men.

“As tour operators we pay high commission, but we need the support in return.”

See previous TravelMole Interviews:
26-Nov-02: Vic Sheppard, UK sales and marketing manager, Emirates
19-Nov-02: Mathew Prior, managing director, First Choice Ski
13-Nov-02: David Clifton, md Europe and Asia, Interval International
04-Nov-02: David Norris, brand manager, ifyouski.com
29-Oct-02: Chris May, managing director, Hayes and Jarvis
21-Oct-02: Fiona Jeffery, Reed Exhibitions director
14-Oct-02: Brent Hoberman, ceo and co-founder, lastminute.com
09-Oct-02: David Burdon, sales and marketing director, Cosmos
02-Oct-02: Jeff Rebello, UK marketing manager, SAS
24-Sep-02: BITOA chief executive Richard Tobias
17-Sep-02: Alan Croft, deputy managing director, Bridge Travel Service
10-Sep-02: Noel Josephides, managing director, Sunvil Holidays
04-Sep-02: Geoffrey Lipman, World Tourism Organisation adviser
26-Aug-02: Jo Rzymowska, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts
20-Aug-02: TravelMole Interview: Peter Shanks, senior vice-president, Cunard Line
13-Aug-02: Tom Allen, The Theme Park People
05-Aug-02: Chris Kroeger, Sabre
30-Jul-02: Chris Mottershead, TUI UK
23-Jul-02: Seamus Conlon, Airtours Holidays
15-Jul-02: David Soskin, cheapflights.co.uk
09-Jul-02: Bruce Bishins, Genesis TDS
01-Jul-02: Howard Frost, Travelink
25-Jun-02: Rob Wortham, RWA
17-Jun-02: Paul Blackney, Worldspan
11-Jun-02: Mark Jones, Online Travel Corporation
27-May-02: Oliver Hillel, UNEP
20-May-02: Keith Webber, Telewest
13-May-02: Mark O’Brien, Rosenbluth International
07-May-02: Alicia Gardner, Sabre
29-Apr-02: Carolyn Ezzell, Delta Air Lines
23-Apr-02: John Davis, Pegasus Solutions
15-Apr-02: Gregory Hunt, ABTA Arbitration Scheme
09-Apr-02: Stuart Winter, Atinera
03-Apr-02: Roberto Da Re, Dolphin Dynamics
26-Mar-02: Arnaud Debuchy, Amadeus
19-Mar-02: Helen Baker, Lastminute.com
12-Mar-02: Pat Minogue, Galileo
07-Mar-02: Jon Hart, MyTravel
28-Feb-02: Lawrence Hunt, Rapid Travel Solutions

Related News Stories: