Tag Archives: med

Spain to ‘refresh’ brand with new marketing plan

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WTM: Spain to ‘refresh’ brand with new marketing plan

Nov 09, 2011 14:00PM GMT

The Spanish Tourist Office is following the lead of Microsoft and Levi’s as it plans a three-year strategic marketing plan, due to launch in January.

The Spanish Tourist Office’s new UK director, Enrique Ruiz de Lera, said Spain faced major challenges and was seeking to learn solutions from the experiences of major consumer brands.

He compared Spain to Microsoft – leading the market for many years but now challenged by Apple – or, in Spain’s case, Turkey and Croatia. Ruiz de Lera said: “These destinations are competing hard. They have excellent product and they’ve learnt from our mistakes. We need to refresh our brand.”

Ruiz de Lera also said Spain was seen as “uncool” by young people, in the same way as under-30s don’t want to buy Levi jeans because they are worn by their parents.

As part of a drive to target the younger market, the Spanish Tourist Office, is working with MTV on branded content – a first for Spain and MTV. Reality TV show Fix You will air in January.

Objectives of the marketing strategy include a drive to increase the average tourist spend by 15% in three years – a goal that Ruiz de Lera admited was ambitious.

“It’s a long shot. When we planned the goal, the economy was less difficult. But you have to be bold,” he said.

The STO also hopes to diversify the market over the next three years, both seasonally and geographically.

Ruiz de Lera also said product diversification was necessary, with a cross-selling plan to encourage tourists to experience more. “A visitor to the Costa del
Sol can add on a few days in Malaga, for example.”

The UK market was still extremely price-sensitive, he said, and Spain had to be careful not to price itself out of the market.

Thomas Cook to close 24 shops across UK

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Thomas Cook to close 24 shops across UK

Sep 22, 2011 08:00AM GMT

Thomas Cook to close 24 shops across UK

Thomas Cook has begun a 90-day consultation with more than 100 staff after announcing plans to close 24 high street shops around the country.

The company said 22 of the closures were because of leases expiring and two because shops were making a loss. Outlets are to close in towns as far apart as Northampton, Bangor, Cleethorpes and Stirling.

Ian Ailles, Thomas Cook UK mainstream chief executive, said the firm’s shop network was constantly under review.

“Our high street stores are the most popular way for customers to book with us and an essential part of our multi-channel approach, alongside websites and sales centres,” he said.

“However, there are times, like today, when we will propose closing a small number of individual stores to remain effective in this competitive environment.

“We will do all that we can to minimise the impact on affected customers and colleagues.”

The staff consultation is one of three under way at the company. The group is in a formal consultation with Thomas Cook Airlines staff in Manchester where it plans 250 job cuts as it axes six aircraft from the UK fleet for this winter.

Thomas Cook is also consulting 400 call centre staff who handle holiday bookings in Peterborough and Falkirk on shift changes. The company wants call centre employees to work later, taking calls up to 10pm, and on Sundays.

The shop closures come ahead of a loss of about 75 outlets expected to result from the joint-venture merger with The Co-op and Midlands Co-op Travel.

Summer lates boost keeps Tui Travel on course

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Summer lates boost keeps Tui Travel on course

Sep 22, 2011 07:50AM GMT

Summer lates boost keeps Tui Travel on course

A strong performance in this summer’s lates market has helped Tui Travel keep on course to meet its full year expectations.

Improved margins for late sales in the UK and Germany have helped boost Europe’s largest travel group. Winter 2011/12 trading to date is described as “satisfactory” overall with differentiated holidays performing well, particularly in the UK and Nordic regions.

Winter capacity has been cut by 7% from the UK to Egypt and Tunisia following political upheaval in North Africa. This has helped push the average selling price up by 6%, also reflecting higher fuel and accommodation costs.

Differentiated holiday sales are up by 7% year on year while the percentage of online sales has grown by three percentage points to 37%. The group has sold 10% of it summer 2012 programme from the UK, described as being broadly in line with last year.

Bookings are currently 11% down, partly reflecting a 4% drop in capacity, while average selling prices are up by 10%.

“Margin performance is a key driver for the group. We anticipate that in the UK, cost inflation will be just over 5% for summer 2012 and our prices are designed to recover these input costs in this competitive market,” the company said in a trading update today.

Chief executive Peter Long said: “We are pleased with our performance in the lates market for summer 2011, and most of our programmes are now almost fully sold.

“We remain confident that the full year results will be in line with our expectations. Trading for winter 2011/12 is satisfactory overall, but we are anticipating a slow recovery in trading to Egypt and Tunisia, and have managed our capacity accordingly.”

He added: “Our focus remains on differentiated product, maintaining margins, prudent capacity management, and delivering our turnaround and cost savings programme. The flexibility of our business model means that we are well placed to achieve this.”