New challenges

With its biggest retail partner, Tui, creating its own in-house ticket supply over the past two years, it has been a challenging time for Attraction World.

But Applebaum says the loss of £11 million of Tui sales in the last 24 months has been more than made up elsewhere by other business.

“By working more closely with Thomas Cook, and other partners like Midcounties and Barrhead Travel, we’ve actually added £18 million of revenue in that time, which more than offsets what we’ve lost,” he reports, expecting turnover this year to be in excess of £70 million.

And any challenges the business has experienced have done nothing to diminish Attraction World in the eyes of travel agents and industry judges: the company took home three trophies at last year’s TTG Travel Awards, for Holiday Add-Ons Provider of the Year, Supplier Sales Team of the Year and the Winner of Winners award for outstanding achievement.

But the company – set up 10 years ago by Tony Seaman, now chief operating officer, and Paul Stobbs – will not be resting on its laurels. “We’ve got the biggest awards cabinet in the business, but we’ve got to keep earning it,” Applebaum insists.

He is currently steering a major website revamp, “putting everything on newer, shinier systems”, which could cost up to £250,000 and will be ready later this year or early next.

He also intends to significantly enhance the website’s content. “Sometimes B2B content isn’t great; I want to make sure agents have a B2C-quality site with great imagery.”

Consumer sales

Applebaum cut his teeth at Attraction World on the consumer side of the business, which has existed since 2006, and which makes up 50% of overall sales. But there are only around 700 products on the consumer site, and Applebaum says he has no intention of trying to drive up direct business at the expense of agent sales.

“There just isn’t the consumer mindset to book much of what we sell. Tickets for Disney and PortAventura yes, but consumers don’t even realise you can pre-book a barbeque boat cruise in Albufeira. It’s hard to push something they’ve never heard of; agents play a vital part in pitching it to them.”

That’s not to say he thinks travel agents always do a good job on that front, however: “At times our sales team will set targets for an agency of making one booking with us a week. But how many holidays will that agency be selling that week?”

He gives short shrift to the suggestion that agents might feel uneasy pushing for another sale when a customer has already paid out for the holiday itself.

“I used to work in Curry’s and when we were selling a £2,000 flat-screen TV, some of my colleagues were scared to suggest the premium cables and accessories, but I could usually persuade the customer that £40 for the best lead is nothing if it meant getting the most out of their investment,” he argues.

In fact, he goes as far as suggesting selling add-on experiences is a travel agent’s duty.

“Forget about the £16 commission agents might earn – if I go to Rome and I haven’t seen the Coliseum then I haven’t been to Rome. We are the bit of the holiday that your customers remember. If you have helped facilitate that, then surely that’s good for your relationship,” he says.

Changing Attraction World’s approach to agent training could go some way to increasing agent sales, he contends.

“An agent will know the key hotels in Tenerife, but I want them to know the five key attractions in each destination too. Typically we’ve been training agents on our best-selling products, the 10%, but that’s a self-fulfilling prophecy,” he believes.

“By training our own team on wider products, they’ll have the confidence to talk about different things.”

“I don’t mean losing the fun side of Attraction World which is what we’re known for,” he promises, “but a subtle shift in focus.”

Despite becoming managing director by the age of 31, Applebaum isn’t fazed by having reached the top so young. “I was first appointed in a director role aged 29, and I think there were a few raised eyebrows then, but not any more.

“Being part of TTG’s 30 Under 30 didn’t just raise my profile, but served to really open doors for me.

It meant an immediate contact book full of relatable, high-achieving travel professionals.

“And so many of those young people are now rapidly moving up through their businesses, which only happens if the people at the top have an attitude of helping people develop. Travel’s special in that respect.”

Whatever else Applebaum goes on to achieve, it seems unlikely he’ll go back to acting, law or selling flat-screen TVs anytime soon: not while there are more theme parks and cities to explore. “Travel is my hobby as well as my career,” he concludes. “I genuinely can’t imagine anything I could care more about selling.”