12 November 2008

Optimism hard to find at WTM

TravelMole Comment by Jeremy Skidmore

Like thousands of other people heading for World Travel Market on its first morning, I felt like a stranded xl.com passenger with no hope of getting to my destination on time.

Broken trains, an inadequate supply of buses, a lack of taxis and, thrown in for good measure, lashings of rain. It wouldnÃ¢â¬â¢t have been so bad if show attendees hadnÃ¢â¬â¢t been put through it all again the next morning.

Eventually, we did get to the show, and there was little sign of the credit crunch having an impact on the cost of the stands. Of course, they had all been booked months in advance, so it will be interesting to see if there is an effect next year.

I donÃ¢â¬â¢t know if attendees were down, or it just seemed that way, but there was a certain lack of buzz around Excel that you usually get at WTM.

And what was the word around the camp fire among the travel industry stalwarts who were there?

Not even the bravest are still claiming that a holiday is a luxury, rather than a necessity, and boldly predicting people will go away, come what may.

For most companies, the last few weeks have been pretty dreadful Ã¢â¬' although IÃ¢â¬â¢m sure many will write in to tell me they are bucking the trend.

The strange thing seems to be that next summerÃ¢â¬â¢s bookings are holding up quite well.

Of course, weÃ¢â¬â¢re only talking about a small percentage of people who are prepared to book so far in advance, but it does provide some hope.

There has been some trading down, with people cutting the duration of their longer trips and going for some of the cheaper destinations, like Turkey, that are outside of the euro zone.

But the winter is not looking so hot. The perceived wisdom was that skiing would still book strongly, because winter sports fans are a hardy lot who hit the mountains, whatever the economic circumstances.

That has happened Ã¢â¬' ski bookings are well down Ã¢â¬' and itÃ¢â¬â¢s surely because the cost of taking a whole family on a trip, with clothes, passes, etc, is considerable. ItÃ¢â¬â¢s not so easy to just whack it on the credit card now.

Personally, I think couples will still go skiing, but are waiting for last minute bargains.

IÃ¢â¬â¢m not so confident the family market will recover to last yearÃ¢â¬â¢s levels.

Over the past few seasons, the post-Christmas period hasnÃ¢â¬â¢t been as vital as in previous years, because people have been booking at all times of the year.

This year, it is going to be pretty vital once again.