When Richard Sofer, Tui UK and Ireland’s commercial and business development director, told TTG onboard Marella Voyager in June the travel giant wanted to grow its third-party distribution, his comments caused quite a stir among independents – some pricked up their ears with interest, others rolled their eyes.

According to Sofer, the plan had been discussed internally for more than a year. Given Tui’s additional 1.1 million seats to fill for summer 2024, plus its focus on post-pandemic growth, a renewed relationship with independent agents makes sense.

Tui, he explained, was seeking to “redress the balance” of recent years, during which time the company has favoured its own retail network and B2C online sales, often outmuscling and undercutting the trade.

"We recognise that if we don’t work with independent agents, we’re missing out on part of the market," said Sofer. "And, to be honest, part of the market that our competitors are working with.

"From a business point of view, it makes sense, from a relationship point of view it makes sense, from the customer point of view it makes sense.”

Skip forward a few months and Tui’s announcement on Monday (21 August) of six new trade-facing roles, including five trade relations managers based in Northern Ireland, Scotland, the Midlands, the North and the South of England, is a serious statement of intent.

But is it enough to win agent hearts and minds?

"It’s an interesting one for me,” Jennifer Lynch, general manager of ArrangeMy Escape, tells TTG. “I think it’s something we can’t ignore because customers will book Tui if that’s what they want, so we can’t ignore the tour operator, we need them. But I would rather them working with us than against us.

"We have worked with Tui, but we won’t actively promote them because we would rather work with suppliers that want to work with us and don’t undercut us. We’ll probably increase our business slowly and have a look at what results from that. If their new trade team wants to work with us, I’m not going to ignore them."

Thorne Travel owner Shona Thorne is similarly open-minded. “It’s not something I’m opposed to – we’d obviously like to have that relationship,” she tells TTG.

“I never shut the door on anyone if I can avoid it. It’s a service that some of our customers like and obviously we have to offer what the customers want, but if there’s an alternative for the customer, we’d look at an alternative.”

Some agents are less convinced. “I think most agents would be weary of them getting close as it has been a long time since Tui has had any relationship with agents,” says Tony Mann, director of Idle Travel.

“We sell Tui holidays and cruises, but a relationship is something that a company builds over time – we’re nowhere near that with Tui. It would take a long, long time for me to be confident they won’t be disappearing two minutes down the line or undercutting us or whatever that might be.

"It takes a long time for us to have confidence in them and to trust them. It’s going take some doing, it’s not an overnight thing, it will take months and years for them to prove they actually want to help the agents.”

For a number of agents TTG has spoken to, how Tui’s trade support stacks up compared with rivals like Jet2holidays and easyJet holidays will decide where many take their business.

"The frustration independent agents have had with Tui for years is that we can’t compete with their online prices, and it’s just not worth it to us to cost-match them,” says Westoe Travel boss Graeme Brett.

Brett continued: “We have a massive range of brochures in our shop, but we don’t rack Tui because of it. If they’re genuinely going to do this [become more agent-friendly] then it needs to be a serious investment and come with worthwhile commission and price parity.

“The leader among the mainstream operators for years now has been Jet2holidays – Tui would do well to take a leaf out of their book, considering the loyalty Jet2 have shown independents. Their customer service is excellent too, which is very valuable as an agent.”

Mann added: “Our relationship with Jet2holidays is excellent. Jet2holidays is probably the best tour operator we’ve worked with in 39 years in terms of the support they give us.

"Tui’s offering and Jet2holidays’ offering [in terms of support] are a galaxy apart. We really want a proper relationship, and that’s going to take some time."