I’m not really a New Year’s resolutions kind of person, but I do like to think about what I’ve learnt in the last year and how that can make planning for the bumps in the road ahead a little easier. These are my top five lessons and learnings from 2015.

1

The oldies are goodies. Airtours is back. The announcement at the end of 2015 that Airtours was being relaunched by Thomas Cook has been met with great affection by those of us who have been in the travel industry for a few years.

I know plenty of agents will be excited about a new lease of life for one of the most loved package holiday brands.

2

There will always be businesses doing the Hokey Cokey with their trade support. The past 12 months have seen all manner of high profile travel brands dismiss the trade and go direct, or introduce fees for booking in any way except directly. More often than not, businesses that become 100% direct end up coming back to the trade with their tails between their legs – some with a faster u-turn than others.

3

The travel industry has to do its bit in an unpredictable world; 2015 will be remembered as a horrific year for geopolitical tragedies which impacted how people travel. None of us will ever forget the repercussions from the tragic incidents in Tunisia, Paris, and Sharm el Sheikh. Closer to home, the north of England faces a recovery from widespread flooding. Travel businesses have a responsibility to help economies recover, and to continue to support tourism once it is safe to do so.

4

Government policy will always be 99% hot air. Air Passenger Duty still hasn’t changed enough to put the UK on a level playing field with other nations for holidaymakers and the ongoing delays to a final decision on Heathrow expansion are painful. Despite the impressive actions of organisations such as Abta in their tireless campaigning on behalf of the industry, we still have to plan our businesses with one arm behind our backs due to unfair taxation and not enough air capacity. I won’t be holding my breath that 2016 is a year for significant change.

5

Acquisitions and mergers will continue to consolidate our industry more often, and more of the time. Change brings both opportunities and challenges, and businesses both fly and fail at a faster pace than ever. I’m an optimist and like to be excited about the year ahead. But I hear the worries of agents when managing lots of change hampers their focus, or businesses gain scale and become too aggressive in cutting distribution channel costs. The old adage of being nice to people on the way up, because you’ll need them on the way down, has never been more important.