Lisa McAuley, owner and managing director of Silver Travel Advisor, Kuoni marketing director Dean Harvey and Suzanne Korff, director of marketing and communications at Princess Cruises, said firms that were authentic in their communications would win the most business from customers in the months ahead.

“Trust is the number-one currency in travel at the moment,” said McAuley. “Everyone is wanting to book travel with someone they trust. It’s up to travel companies to think about how they can create that.”

Harvey echoed the point, adding: “We are leaning towards advertising with trusted publishers more and more – if we want to be trusted it’s important to align ourselves with other trusted brands.”

Harvey said current marketing platforms were often more traditional than consumers realised. “Is the word ‘influencer’, a rebranding of celebrity ambassadors? And is ‘content marketing’ just a rebranding of brochures?”

All speakers were agreed on the importance of segmenting marketing during the downturn, and ensuring marketing was targeted at those sectors that were most likely to hold up well during the downturn.

Korff said introducing an all-inclusive product earlier this year had enabled Princess to target that audience – while Harvey stressed the importance of focusing on honeymooners, with honeymoons still likely to be booked whatever the economic conditions.