Big four “proud” of in-house sales figures
The big four are becoming increasingly open about the fact that they are steering large numbers of sales in-house, according to attendees at a recent Tourism Society meeting held at the University of Surrey.
The theme of the event was “Tourism Distribution Channels.’ E-tourism course leader Dr Dimitrios Buhalis (pictured), who chaired a number of sessions at the meeting, said the overall consensus of opinion was that whereas in the past the big four might have been reluctant to admit they were driving sales in-house, they now seemed to be proud of the strategy and less fearful of regulatory disapproval.
Mr Buhalis told TravelMole: “There is a huge switch-selling drive which is much more aggressive. In the past they [the big four] were always very concerned about things like the Monopolies and Mergers Commission. But in the next two to three years I think it is very likely that they will choose to have one brand covering retail, the airline and the tour operating side – a bit like what C&N are doing with Thomas Cook.”
The event, held on June 12, was sponsored by the Greek National Tourism Organisation and Travelmole.com. Attendees included Active Hotels chief executive Andy Phillips, Opodo travel director Soren Langelund, First Choice Holidays sales director Martin Froggatt, Travelbargains managing director Ian Brooks and ABTA chief executive Ian Reynolds.
See our previous stories:
27 May 02: Thomas Cook name takes to the skies
25 Mar 2002: Thomas Cook relegates JMC brand
20 Jun 2001: In with the old: Thomas Cook name replaces C&N
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