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From new ship launches, Thomas Cook and that court case to a general election and a tragically high number of terror acts, this was a year that kept the industry on its toes. Rob Gill takes a look at the highs and lows of 2015.
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There was a positive start to 2015 as agents and operators across the travel industry reported strong sales during the peaks period. Kuoni sprung a new year’s surprise by putting all of its tour operating businesses up for sale to concentrate on its wholesale travel services. Around 1,200 holidaymakers were affected by the collapse of Airliner Ltd, which traded under brands such as Luxury Trips, Sporting Getaways and Ultra Cruises.
Former XL Leisure boss Phil Wyatt and his fellow “Black Pearl” defendants won the right to appeal against a high court judge’s decision in the Goldtrail fraud case. In a big year for cruise launches, P&O Cruises officially took delivery of Britannia, the biggest ship ever built for the UK market. P&O chairman David Dingle declared he was “more excited about this vessel than any other”.
The CAA changed its mind regarding plans to axe the Small Business Atol following widespread concern about the proposal by Aito and others in the trade. In a major strategic move, Thomas Cook signed a £91.8 million deal with Chinese conglomerate Fosun allowing Cook to “accelerate” the introduction of more exclusive resorts. There was royal approval for P&O Cruises as the Queen officially launched Britannia in Southampton. Elsewhere Tunisia was struck by its first major tourist attack in 2015 with 23 people – mostly cruise passengers – killed by gunmen at the Bardo museum in Tunis. A few days later, tragedy struck again when a Germanwings flight from Barcelona to Dusseldorf crashed in the French Alps killing all 150 people onboard – the crash was later blamed on co-pilot Andreas Lubitz. The CAA moved to reassure Britons that pilots’ mental health was “regularly assessed”.
The general election campaign dominated most of the month but travel and tourism seldom got a mention from the major parties. The big travel event was Royal Caribbean’s launch of Anthem of the Seas in Southampton. Thomas Cook was in the news for all the wrong reasons as the inquest opened into the death of two children from carbon monoxide poisoning while staying in Corfu. There was more sorrow as Nepal suffered a devastating earthquake, which also caused a massive avalanche at Everest Base Camp – the trade rallied together to rescue customers.
The month began with the Conservative party winning a surprise majority in the general election. London mayor and new MP Boris Johnson – a staunch opponent of Heathrow expansion – joined the new cabinet, which was seen as a blow to the airport’s hopes for a third runway. Tracey Crouch was appointed as minister for sport, tourism and heritage. The coroner in the Thomas Cook Corfu inquest told the jury to reach a verdict of “unlawful killing” into the deaths of Bobby and Christi Shepherd from carbon monoxide poisoning. Cook’s responses were criticised for “losing sight of the human side of the tragedy”. Tui announced plans to phase out its mainstream UK brands Thomson and First Choice in favour of “one universal master brand”. Official statistics showed that package holiday sales rose from 15.3 million in 2013 to 15.9 million in 2014.
Midcounties Co-operative announced plans for a new tour operation, while homeworking specialist Travel Counsellors launched its first TV advertising campaign. Lufthansa made itself unpopular with agents by announcing plans to charge a €16 fee for every GDS booking – business travel organisation GTMC urged the trade to fight the move. German travel giant Rewe reached a deal to buy all of Kuoni’s European tour operators including its UK independent brands Kirker Holidays and Carrier. Scottish agency Barrhead Travel celebrated its 40th anniversary by announcing a deal with Sandals to create 10 co-branded stores. But the month ended in tragedy when a gunman killed 38 people, including 30 Thomson and First Choice customers, at a beach resort in Port El Kantaoui, near Sousse in Tunisia. The Foreign Office changed its advice to warn against all non-essential travel to Tunisia, forcing operators to cancel all holidays to the destination.
The Airports Commission recommended that Heathrow should be allowed to build a third runway in its long-awaited report on increasing airport capacity. The government promised to reach a decision by the end of the year. Arch-critics of Heathrow expansion including Boris Johnson and London mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith again vowed to fight the third runway. Eight travel firms were still waiting to hear if they would be able to recoup millions of pounds in VAT from HMRC as a result of the Medhotels case. Meanwhile Thomas Cook said it was again reviewing commission payments for third-party agents.
Tui UK’s director of retail Jill Carter said the operator was still committed to high street agencies as the company opened a new design store in London’s Westfield Stratford City shopping centre. IAG boss Willie Walsh (pictured below) was in vocal form as he attacked the cost of building a third runway at Heathrow and vowed that his company “would not be paying” for it. There were signs of positive change for one of Europe’s most notorious party resorts, Magaluf in Majorca, with a drop in crime and anti-social behaviour. Abta urged travel businesses to begin preparing for the new EU’s Package Travel Directive, even though it won’t come into effect until 2017.
Lufthansa vowed not to back down on the introduction of its GDS fee in the face of protests. Specialist Turkey villa operator Exclusive Escapes collapsed after a last-minute rescue bid failed. There was also a heart-warming tale as Crusader Travel’s Shona Lyons teamed up with operator Sunvil to send a plane with supplies for refugees to the Greek island of Samos.
The month saw the end of two historic travel brands: Cosmos Holidays and Bath Travel. Monarch Group announced that the Cosmos Holidays name would disappear as part of a major rebranding exercise, which also saw the end of the Avro and Somewhere2stay brands. Bath Travel stores were rebranded under the name of owner Hays Travel. Barrhead Travel opened its first branded store in England with a shop in Newcastle’s Eldon Square Shopping Centre. The biggest news was Virgin Holidays’ decision to go direct-sell only as it was the “only way to guarantee service”. The move went down badly with independent agencies – Garstang Travel dumped all Virgin brochures in the bin.
Thomas Cook promised to introduce new health and safety measures following a report into the handling of the Corfu deaths, which found that the operator had been putting “profits before customers”. There was more grim news as it was suspected that a Russian charter aircraft leaving Sharm el Sheikh had been brought down by a bomb. Airlines put on repatriation flights, and further flights to Sharm were suspended by the government. Paris suffered its second major tourist attack of 2015 when 130 people were killed by terrorists, although most British tourists in the city were determined to continue with their trips despite the atrocity.
Inghams owner Hotelplan completed a pre-Christmas swoop to buy adventure travel operator Explore and diving specialist Regaldive from Cox & Kings in a £26 million deal. As the year came to an end, the future of the Thomas Cook and Co-operative Group’s joint retail venture remained uncertain as Co-op retained the option to sell its stake in the JV to Cook in 2016 – five years after the original deal.
