Commercial and business development director Richard Sofer told TTG he wanted to see more mainstream Tui sales go through third parties, following the lead of Marella Cruises, which has a higher share of sales through independent agents.
A number of independents were among more than 600 travel agents who joined the christening of Marella Voyager in Malaga this week.
Speaking to TTG onboard Voyager, Sofer said: “We recognise that if we don’t work with independent agencies we’re missing out on part of the market – 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.
“Now that we’re back in growth mode – with 1.1 million seats next summer and the additional capacity we’ve put into winter - it’s time to redress that balance. That’s something we’ve been talking about internally for 12 months and you’ve seen that from some of the conversations we’ve been having. We do expect to see a greater proportion of the additional seats being sold by independent travel agents, and that will start to shift the dial.”
Sofer credited chief marketing officer Katie McAllister, who leaves the business to take over as president at Cunard in August, with establishing stronger relationships with a number of travel agency groups in recent months. E-commerce director Neil Swanson is taking over the role.
He added that all independent agents were able to sell holidays at the same prices as Tui’s own stores.
Marella Cruises managing director Chris Hackney said the dedicated agency sales team established by Marella last October had clearly led to a wider share of sales from independents.
“The percentage share of sales through independent travel agents has grown since then and we’ve had some real success stories, with some up with us over 100%,” he declared.
Marella Voyager begins its maiden commercial sailing out of Palma on Saturday (3 June), and will spend this summer sailing the Mediterranean.
