Recession has huge impact on retail sales
Thursday, 08 Oct, 2009
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The recession has had a dramatic impact on consumer behavior with retail sales across all markets dropping by 15-20% in the past year, ABTA Travel Convention delegates were told.
In his presentation entitled ‘Getting Ready for a Brand New World’, PricewaterhouseCoopers partner Mark Hudson said research showed that 86 per cent of consumers who had traded down felt they had got the same value as before and 34 per cent felt they had greater value.
The presentation included pre-recorded video interviews with prominent figures from both inside and outside the industry, who revealed the impact the recession has had on their business.
British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh said everyone wanted ‘more bang for their buck’ and revealed that more people were buying cheaper, restricted tickets rather than fully flexible tickets.
He added that there were parts of the airline’s business that didn’t add value to customers and these needed to be cut back. But he warned that although higher cost businesses, like BA, could reduce their costs, they could never become lower cost businesses and follow the no-frills model.
Thomson and First Choice UK managing director Dermot Blastland said that people wanted to maintain the standard of their holidays, but had traded down from 14 night trips to 10 or 11 night stays.
InterContinental Hotels managing director Andy Coslett said that more people had holidayed at home and said that they would revert back to old travel habits if the experience had not been as enjoyable as they expected.
Jeremy Skidmore
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