EasyJet to grow easyJet Holidays
EasyJet is in discussions with a number of large hotel chains and individual hotels to grow its EasyJet Holidays division.
It is stepping up investment in the venture, which was launched three years ago.
Speaking at this week’s ABTA Travel Convention in Seville, easyJet CEO Johan Lundgren said there was a huge opportunity for hotels to tap into its customer base.
"We are putting 20 million people on our planes and 19.5 million of them book their accommodation elsewhere. We want to increase that conversion," he said.
But he said the airline did not plan to become a full-blown tour operator along the lines of Jet2 Holidays.
"We will be working with a few selective partners but with a good range of destination," he said. "We don’t need to sell as many hotels as booking.com.
"EasyJet will continue at its core to be an airline. We’re not changing into a tour operator as such. We launched easyJet Holidays three years ago and we’re now putting more investment into it."
He said easyJet Holidays was open to working with agents.
"Agents already sell our flights and if there are agents out there who feel they would like to be part of this story we would be happy to talk to them," he said.
The division is headed up by Garry Wilson, who previously worked with Lundgren at TUI.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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