Club Med considers working with OTAs for first time
All-inclusive resort operator Club Med is considering working with niche online travel agents in the UK for the first time.
The UK currently accounts for around one in 10 of Club Med’s European guests, explained UK and Northern Europe MD Estelle Giraudeau.
Its revenue in the UK was up 7% last year, driven by an 18% rise in online sales as well as a 10% surge in premium customers.
Giraudeau said the operator is now considering working with specialist OTAs to further raise awareness of the brand in the UK, where it is best known for its ski resorts.
"We would never work with the likes of Booking.com and Expedia but we are considering niche OTAs," she said. "We aren’t working with any at the moment, but this is something we are considering, if we can find the right partners. They would have to be targeted in terms of product or destination."
Club Med, which is owned by Chinese conglomerate Fosun, is embarking on a rapid period of expansion over the next five years, with new resorts opening in the Seychelles (above), the French Alps and Canada later this year.
New resorts being planned for 2021 and beyond include luxury resorts in Alentejo in Portugal, Lido in Italy, Borneo, Thailand and South Africa as well as new ski resorts in Changbaishan, Lijiang and Thaiwoo in China.
Club Med has also launched a new initiative called ‘Happy To Care’ that will encompass everything the all-inclusive operator is doing to create more sustainable holidays.
It includes commitments to eco-construction with 100% of new resorts to be eco-certified BREEAM or equivalent, 100% of resorts to be Green Globe certified for operations by 2021, and the removal of single-use plastics by 2021.
Three-quarters of jobs at Club Med resorts are created locally and more than 400 local producers are supported in agro-ecology globally, added Giraudeau.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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