http://www.travolution.co.ukThe latest information from Travolution6011420715http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/05/2606/psa-chairman-interview-lars-olsson.htmlCCPFri, 05 Jun 2009 08:00:00 +01:00PSA chairman interview - Lars Olssonhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/01/2594/standing-out-from-the-crowd.htmlCCPMon, 01 Jun 2009 07:30:00 +01:00 Consumers’ online behaviour is changing and travel companies should be using the recession as a period to raise their game, get wise to the competition and innovate, as Yahoo! head of travel Hazel Checkley explains. The travel industry, like every other, is currently facing major challenges: the credit crunch, rising fuel costs and lower disposable incomes. This, combined with the threat of a consumer panic over swine flu, means people are more discerning than ever to spend money on holidays. There’s no need to panic – it’s simply a natural slowdown for the sector. However, to get ahead of the competition, companies need to smarten up, look closely at what consumers now want when buying a holiday, and use this to differentiate themselves. Yahoo! recently undertook a survey across its European network, looking at how consumer behaviour is changing and the key drivers in creating a loyal website usehttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/01/2591/mixing-up-the-marketing-blend.htmlCCPMon, 01 Jun 2009 07:08:00 +01:00 Marketing initiatives are changing and being at the top of Google’s search results is no longer the main aim. Travel companies are now seeking a distributed content strategy. Piers Ford reports on innovation in advertising. Long-term success will be judged according to its impact on visitor numbers – but as pervasive, multi-channel campaigns go, Tourism Queensland’s search to fill ‘The Best Job in the World’ – islands caretaker for the Barrier Reef – indicates the scale of innovation the travel industry will depend on to punch its way into brighter times. The blend of social media, marketing, PR and advertising absolutely reflected the blurring of these traditionally independent silos and amounted to a viral power that throws down a gauntlet to the rest of the industry, daring it to do better. The good news is that many digital marketing experts are confident that the pioneering spirit throughout the sector is strong enough to rise to the challenge. <http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/04/14/2431/co-operative-executive-interview-mike-greenacre.htmlCCPTue, 14 Apr 2009 09:35:00 +01:00 Climate change looms large for Mike Greenacre. The managing director of The Co-operative Travel Group does not conceal his disgust at the government decision to expand Heathrow by allowing a third runway. “We are angry,” he says, referring to the group of more than 400 high-street shops, 600 home workers, call centres, corporate travel operation and cruise business he heads. “Why do we need a third runway at Heathrow when the air traffic around Heathrow is so inefficient?” When the government made its announcement in January, Greenacre labelled the justifications “laughable” and “absurd” - strong language from a board member of ABTA, given that the association supports Heathrow expansion. Greenacre does not expect a speedy change in ABTA policy, but he does not http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/03/27/2388/kuoni-ceo-interview-peter-rothwell.htmlCCPFri, 27 Mar 2009 07:37:00 -00:00 Peter Rothwell has wasted no time getting his hands dirty since taking on the role of group chief executive at Kuoni at the start of this year. Just under a month into the job, Rothwell - known for having a cool head in business and not afraid to slash costs where necessary - was announcing details of the group's three-year £63 million 'transformation' programme. This includes job cuts as part of a bid to reduce costs by 5% a year, as well as plans to create a common inventory and reservation system across the group's tour operating brands, and developing the web. "Cost cutting is a way of life, sadly. But it does drive efficiencies," says Rothwell. At a time when travel businesses are battling against the effects of the recession, the former TUI Travel deputy chief executive is not expechttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/03/25/2381/chief-executive-salary-masked-by-warm-city-reaction-to-cook-results.htmlCCPWed, 25 Mar 2009 03:00:00 -00:00 Thomas Cook ’s release of a trading update to coincide with its annual general meeting on March 19 set one or two pulses racing. After all, the group issued an interim management statement as recently as February 12 and updates on trading are not normally monthly events. But these are not normal times. As it was, there was no cause for trepidation. If anything, the message to shareholders was more upbeat than in February. Cooks reported no change in trading for summer 2009 in the UK, but said markets in Continental and Northern Europe – largely Germany and Scandinavia - had picked up. That is important given Germany, the UK and Scandinavia are Europe’s biggest markets. The update described UK summer trading as “robust” and reported Cook had 14% less to sell in the shoulder months than a year ago, with more than half its summer programme sold by mid-March. So consumers hanging back for last-mhttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/03/20/2356/youtravel.com-executive-interview-graham-nichols.htmlCCPFri, 20 Mar 2009 10:23:00 -00:00 Youtravel.com group managing director Graham Nichols is confident 2009 will be the year the three-year-old bed bank business makes its first “significant” profit. But he is also aware of the challenges of the current recession and the need for a sensible approach in a sector of the market that has grown rapidly over recent years. As a result, the company has put plans to expand - for example into the cruise market - on hold. “It’s time to focus and grow what we have,” he says. According to Nichols, group profit for the year ending October 2009 “won’t just be a few €100,000” and will represent a significant turnaround on its first year, when it posted a £900,000 loss. But he also admits profits are likely to fall short of the ambitious figures the company budgeted for last October. “This year we hope to make a significant profit. But it mighttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/03/13/2322/hoseasons-ceo-interview-richard-carrick.htmlCCPFri, 13 Mar 2009 09:09:00 -00:00 The short breaks market is being hit hard by the downturn in holiday sales, but mounting evidence suggests UK operators could benefit from the recession. PricewaterhouseCoopers recently fired a warning shot to companies in the short breaks sector. At the same time, its latest poll showed 17% of holidaymakers plan a domestic holiday this year. So what is the situation for companies with a foot in both camps? Hoseasons chief executive Richard Carrick readily admithttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/02/27/2279/thomas-cook-ceo-inteview-manny-fontenla-novoa.htmlCCPFri, 27 Feb 2009 11:16:00 -00:00 Manny Fontenla-Novoa is relaxed and affable. But then he should be. The Thomas Cook group he heads reported a “robust” UK performance for the three months to December and Fontenla-Novoa says: “We had a very good January.”     First-quarter losses halved year on year, capacity was in line with demand and average selling prices in the UK were up 7% on last year this winter and 9% for summer. Such strong trading has not offset concern about the deteriorating economy, however. Fontenla-Novoa says: “We are planning for a tough year.” Indeed, he expects a minimum of two hard years. “It was a good start and I’m very pleased, but the first quarter is not the most important. We are far from complacent,” he says. “We are planning for a tough time and 2010 will be tougher. That is in all our assumptions.” Given high streets are becoming pockmahttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/02/26/2270/lack-of-retail-shops-remains-achilles-heel-for-cosmos.htmlCCPThu, 26 Feb 2009 08:30:00 -00:00 Cosmos Holidays has admitted not having its own high-street shop arm remains an “Achilles’ heel” for the company but claimed this has not driven its recent tie-up with The Co-operative Travel Group. Cosmos is part of the Monarch Travel Group, the third largest UK travel group, which includes brands such as Monarch Airlines, Monarch Holidays, flight consolidator Avro, bed bank Somewhere2stay.com, escorting tours operator Cosmos Tourama, and Archers Direct. Unlike rivals TUI Travel and Thomas Cook, Cosmos does not own a retail chain. However, Cosmos mainstream holidays managing director Stuart Jackson said the deal to provide product for new tour operator The Co-operative Holidays was a result of retailers coming under pressure from commission cuts in recent years, not Cosmos’ lack of owned agencies. “This deal is not about Cosmos’ distribution strategy. It’s about the Co-operative Travel Trading Group’s ability to access product,” he said. But he conceded: “http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/02/24/2267/company-focus-calluma.htmlCCPTue, 24 Feb 2009 02:32:00 -00:00 Tony Partridge got his first taste of travel by buying lost luggage - now he gives it back through his multi-lingual information, emergency and lost luggage service CallUma. Juliet Dennis finds out more about the business and its plans to work more closely with the travel trade. A year ago few in the trade would have heard of CallUma. The 24-hour worldwide multilingual help service, which launched to the trade in March last year, is now being used by The Co-operative Travel, Expedia, lastminute.com and Easyjet. Last month its profile was raised when former lastminute.com managing director John Bevan joined its ranks as a non-executive director. In a move that  could see the service rolled out across the majority of the high-street travel agency market, founder Tony Partridge is currently in talks with TUI Travel, Thomas Cook, and Advantage. Two operators are also understood to be on the verge of signing up to its services. http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/02/09/2190/adjust-to-corporate-austerity-amadeus-report.htmlCCPMon, 09 Feb 2009 02:27:00 -00:00 Travel management companies and hoteliers need to relate to a new austerity in corporate travel as GDS Amadeus reports a fall in transactions and warns of plunging room rates. Amadeus has seen a 10% fall in hotel bookings this year, according to hospitality business group deputy managing director Jerome Destors, and witnessed a 13% fall in average hotel rates in the last two months of 2008. Destors outlined the decline in traffic as Amadeus published the results of a survey suggesting almost one in two executives will travel less on business in the next 12 months and 16% will axe 30% or more company trips More than one quarter will downgrade hotels, migrating from four or five-star properties to budget chains, and 36% will move from business class to economy on flights. The study, entitled The Austere Traveller, involved 350 executives and was carried out by the Economist Intelligence Unit. It concludes corporate expehttp://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2009/01/20/2115/understanding-the-currency-hedging-dilemma.htmlCCPTue, 20 Jan 2009 08:47:00 -00:00 The weakening of the pound against the euro has thrown another spanner in the works for travel companies already struggling to boost sales in one of the toughest economic climates for years. The move to almost parity between the pound and euro earlier this month has highlighted just how risky a business hedging can be in the current climate. In this scenario, hedging refers to when operators buy currency at a certain rate, for delivery in the future or immediately, to protect holiday prices from fluctuations in the exchange market. It is a vital cog in the wheel for travel companies, usually tour operators and bed banks but increasingly travel agencies contracting their own bed stock, to run profitable businesses. If a company commits to buy rooms at a certain currency level and the exchange rate subsequently fluctuates, the company’s overall profit from a deal can fall, or in low margin deals be wiped out altogther. In simplistic terms this has http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2008/11/18/1949/economic-outlook-white-knuckle-ahead-for-travel.htmlCCPTue, 18 Nov 2008 06:43:00 -00:00 When ex-US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld came out with his gem about known knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns in 2002, he can’t have been thinking about the travel industry. And yet, it seems to sum up current market sentiment. We know what is happening, we can guess what might happen and we can draw lessons from what has happened before. Anybody who could predict what is going to happen would be rich, but the only indicators we have to go on are previous recessions. The fundamental flaw here is that we now have to factor in the web. Steak Media director Duncan Parry says: “There will be lessons from the last recession but this is the first where digital is central.” Already companies have been switching offline advertising budgets to online, with some players abandoning offline altogether – proof in itself of how important online distribution has become. When times are tough, certain forces come into play, such as consumers leaning towards http://www.travolution.co.uk/Articles/2008/10/21/1835/two-minute-showcase-mobiexplore.htmlCCPTue, 21 Oct 2008 01:28:00 +01:00 MobiExplore , a new European mobile content system for travellers, is launching in the UK this week following a hugely successful trial in Croatia this year. [ News story ] European MD Vadran Prazen demonstrates the product for the first time on launch day.   Contact us if you would like to feature in the Two Minute Showcase.