Endacott forecasts ‘virtual tour operating’ trend
Virtual tour operating is emerging as the next travel industry activity as hoteliers begin to offer ‘packages’, according to On Holiday Group chief executive Steve Endacott.
Endacott told visitors to London’s Travel Technology Show that hoteliers will be offering flights in a natural extension of a trend that is already seeing airlines like Easyjet and Ryanair selling ancillary product so successfully that it is supporting their low-cost model.
“Hotels are set to go into dynamic packaging. If they sell accommodation then why not flights? We are going to see more asset holders coming into this arena,” said Endacott.
“If 20 million people are still buying package holidays from the big operators, they must be doing something right and there must still be a market there for the seven or 14-night holiday.”
Like many of the show’s other speakers, he also predicted that this would eventually spell consolidation and rationalisation of the broker market, with dynamic packaging retailers vertically integrating with bed banks to control product delivery.
By Dinah Hatch
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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