Planning for the peaks: ‘grow the apple tree as well as selling apples’

As we approach the festive end to the year, the mood in travel certainly seems buoyed by actions, observations and cold hard data: the three big operators have increased their Atol-protected seats by more than 20%, Clia is forecasting the global number of cruise passengers in 2023 will surpass 2019 levels, and Hilton’s 2024 Global Trends Report highlights that a quarter of adults want to experience solo travel over the next three years. We also have the likes of Mintel’s British Lifestyles Report telling us that the holiday market is set to exceed pre‑Covid values. 

We’re back, baby, we’re back!

But back to what? Back to the old days? Or back to the future?

Traditionally, the first six weeks of the year are the be-all and end-all to the success of the overall year and there is a mad scramble of performance marketing across the whole industry – click here for more, book now, book before x date, book now for x% discount!

Traditionally, price is everything. Competition is intense whether you’re a luxury hotel group, a caravan park, a golden sandy beach island or an airline – there is always a competitor and while we all know a race to the bottom when we see one, it takes a brave brand to refuse to join in.

Traditionally, travel brands segment by age... Gen X, Y and Z, boomers etc. We have places for the silver-haired and islands for the young and family holidays, like these groups are homogenous.

I hope you’re looking at the above list and thinking “my brand doesn’t behave like that”, I really do. But I also know that for every imaginative “The Polite Bouncer” from Icelandair, there are one hundred undifferentiated sun-drenched sandy beaches with a £££ sign writ-large in the corner. If you’re looking at the above list and shifting slightly uncomfortably in your seat, below are five actions you can take which might ease your disquieted mind.