Fewer than four in 10 respondents to TTG’s latest Travel Agent Tracker survey (38%) said they took more new bookings in June than they did in May, down six percentage points (ppt) month-on-month to its lowest level of the year so far.
It was a similar story with new enquiries, with 43% of respondents telling TTG they took more new enquiries in June than they did in May, down one ppt month-on-month to the second lowest level of the year.
Many respondents flagged airport delays and flight cancellations as the biggest issue facing their businesses; more than two-thirds (68%) ranked airport, airline and flight disruption as being among their three biggest challenges in June, on par with their difficulties getting hold of suppliers (also highlighted by 68% of respondents).
"We’ve had at least two potential bookers pull out due to their concern about chaos at Heathrow even though both weren’t due to travel until the autumn," said one high street agent. "Clients back on the fence due to all the flight disruptions," said another agent respondent. Several made specific reference to crystal balls being in short supply – again.
Schedule changes are causing particular grief. "It’s a mission to deal with the smallest schedule change as everyone is trying to get hold of the airlines. Something in the past which would have taken 20 minutes is now taking hours," said one agent, a comment echoed by several others.
Another issue raised by more than a third of respondents was price increases. "June seemed slow," commented one agent. "I’m having to price-match more, suggesting the credit crunch is beginning to bite. Footfall has been down and high prices, especially for flights, are putting customers off."
At least a dozen other respondents mentioned price increases, with about the same amount highlighting low availability and dwindling capacity. In total, 63% of the 81 respondents said June was a better month than May. That compares with three-quarters who said May was a better month than April.
A quarter of respondents said their average sales price per person went up month-on-month, up from 22% in May. Additionally, while there was no change in the frequency with which respondents are discounting, there was a trend in June towards discounting by a smaller amount. In May, 15% of respondents said they discounted by in excess of 10%; in June, this fell to just 3%.
Down Under again
Unsurprisingly, heading into peak summer, 87% of respondents said they felt the Mediterranean was performing well relative to their expectation. This was accompanied, though, by a surge in confidence in non-Med European destinations, flagged by 42% of respondents – up from 28% a month earlier.
There was also a potentially corresponding increase in confidence in the city break sector, with 42% of respondents telling TTG it was performing well relative to their expectations – also up from 28%.
Perhaps the most positive vote of confidence in a destination was for Australasia and the South Pacific; more than a quarter (28%) of respondents said it was performing well relative to their expectations, up from 12% in May with Australia and New Zealand now largely open to international travel.
TTG’s monthly Travel Agent Tracker reports are a benefit of TTG+ membership. You can read the latest report (June) here. Visit the membership page to learn more about the benefits of TTG+.
