Speaking to TTG at the Abta Convention, Tui UK and Ireland managing director Neil Swanson revealed trade was the operator's fastest-growing segment and would soon be responsible for 10% of its sales. "Putting a bit more support behind that makes complete common sense," he said. "It is something we will absolutely be looking at."
Asked if the additional resource would be in place to support agents during peaks, Swanson said: "If you decide you want to do it, you want to get on with doing it – you want to have the maximum impact as quickly as possible."
Swanson wouldn't be drawn on exactly what form any additional support for agents would take, but strongly hinted it would involve growing Tui's presence in the field and ensuring the team is equipped to provide agents with the training they need. It also plans to expand its overseas fam programme.
"It's a great growth opportunity for us," he continued. "We're competing in an area where we're still able to grow if we can take business from other tour operators and the agents decide they want to trust us with that business."
Face-to-face
Tui renewed its focus on the trade in 2023, something on which Swanson led in his previous role as chief marketing officer before going on to take over from Andrew Flintham as UK and Ireland managing director around a year ago. The trade team now numbers 17.
Swanson said the need to educate agents had "come over really strongly" from its engagement with the trade; it launched a trade hub earlier this year designed to make it as "easy as possible" for independents to sell Tui. The hub has since been enhanced with training and support cover Tui's ski and river cruise products.
However, Swanson said feedback from agents suggested there was a need for additional face-to-face support. "They [agents] want to see people face-to-face," he said.
"Yes, they can read it there [on the hub] and know it's all there, but seeing someone face-to-face and running sessions with them is really powerful for them. That's where you need enough people to be able to execute that effectively."
What's working?
Swanson said the operator's World of Tui roadshows had been a hit with the trade, bringing 60 or so agents together at a time for training, as well as events in agents' local airports in partnership with suppliers and other teams.
"They [agents] can come and understand a bit more about the product face-to-face," he continued. "It gets us a bit closer to them without going to individual shops. These event have been really popular so we're going to be doing more of that."
Tui will also be expanding its overseas fam programme, Swanson revealed. It currently takes around 200 agents abroad each year, split across about 10 trips. "There's no substitute for doing these sort of things," he insisted.
"We're going to be expanding those again – not massively, we'll put about another 10% on this year, but you can see the power of these things. When people get to see the product, it makes a big difference."
Swanson said feedback from the trade was critical. "I want people to be telling us what they want and then we can decide whether that makes sense to us, but given the growth available in that [agent] sector, then you know it does make sense for us to be supporting the trade in every way that we can."
Trust mission
Swanson said Tui's app was becoming an ever-more-important shopfront for the business and part of the holiday experience. "We like that because if someone's got the app on their phone, they're more engaged, it's much easier to get that business – and you're not paying some of the acquisition costs you get elsewhere.
"If they're [customers] interacting with us more often, it'll hopefully become second nature, that's the theory why you've got the app there. It's straightforward, get on there, you're all set up to pay, it's easy and frictionless."
However, he stressed agents had nothing to worry about. "Agents' clients use it as well, and we don't market directly to them. That's really important. Independent agents need to trust us.
"When I'm talking about the eco-system, that doesn't mean when agents book something we're marketing to them [their clients]. That's completely unacceptable. They are their customers. That distance is really important in this relationship. The app just gives them access to the information they need overseas."
Swanson said this formed part of a wider "trust piece" Tui is working on with the trade after seeking to re-engage agents, adding he felt the operator had overcome some of the reputational issues it faced when it began renewing its relationship with third-parties.
"It just takes time, doesn't it," he added. "People have got to try it and then if they trust what they're seeing then that's great. I'm sure there are still some for whom it'll take years and years for them to be comfortable."
Growth opportunity
After freezing its Atol last year, Tui has added around 90,000 seats – representing growth of about 1.5% – for 2025/26, and Swanson suggested there would be leeway for more business to come agents' way.
"I think the trade is definitely an opportunity because you're not broadening the market, you're just growing within that if you've got the right offer there," he said. "It's something we're constantly watching, I think that modest growth suits us quite nicely at the moment, there's no need to push further.
"If you look at what other people have done in the past, you're looking at quite massive growths in capacity. Sometimes that's had to be pulled back when things get tough – when people are booking later, it makes the whole thing a bit more difficult to manage."
Despite the cost of living squeeze and political uncertainty in the UK and overseas, Swanson said the key message for agents to remember is that people are still travelling. "Holidays are still critical to people, they are really important; they are going to go.
"Maybe they're not going to commit as far out as they have done in the past, they're going to wait a bit and see, they're going to think about different destinations, what's going to happen to the price.
"It makes it more difficult for us to manage. And I think in this sort of market, I'd want to be prudent. I'm really pleased with where we are and what we're doing. Plus, our vertical [model] is feeding that business into a lot of our own hotels so we're making money across the whole chain."
Managing the curve
Swanson said that while it would be beneficial for Tui, he didn't anticipate a prompt return to an earlier booking curve. "It would be ideal for us if people were booking earlier, it'd be ideal for everyone if there was commitment, and you try and encourage that.
"I think the truth is there's a limit to how much you can push that when you're trying to drive early sales. Generally, you're moving people around the market, but to actually move someone by months into their booking period, that's quite a big change."
Swanson denied operators had got their pricing wrong during peaks this year and inadvertently driven people towards lates once prices softened. "I don't think that's right. I don't recognise that at all.
"Clearly, you know how you've traded in past years, but you're also thinking – do I want to change the curve? Can I change the curve? Does that make sense to get the best result at the end of the year? It's always a careful balance."
Asked if the shift towards lates was a permanent change, Swanson added: "I've been around long enough to have seen this move around quite a lot of times so I wouldn't be shocked to see it go back to early [booking].
"But maybe there is a change with the amount of volatility – geopolitics, climate change. Maybe people aren't wanting to commit. The financial piece will ultimately sort itself out and the economy will pick up.
"Travel is always dealing with different headwinds, but maybe the world is a little bit more unstable now and maybe that will mean people aren't as ready to commit, but you work within what you've got at the time and have to be ready to react and be as agile as you can with what's going on in the world."
