Eliana Willis

After 18 months of Covid-19 affected trading, On the Beach this morning said it was seeing “green shoots of recovery”.
Releasing a trading update ahead of its annual general meeting on Monday, the company said daily booked group sales exceeded 2019 levels on January 13th.
Group sales since the start of the financial year, including the period affected by Omicron, are down by just two per cent when compared to 2019.
Sales are also up by 389 per cent on 2021 – though On the Beach took large parts of its offering off sale last summer.
Simon Cooper, chief executive of On the Beach Group, commented: “After what has been a very difficult time for the travel industry, it has been incredibly pleasing to see consumer confidence and demand return in line with the loosening of travel restrictions in the UK and our destinations. ADVERTISEMENT“The group’s proactive actions taken throughout the pandemic have led to increased group sales in the higher value four- and five-star hotels, particularly for holidays to the Eastern Mediterranean.
“Our sales patterns continue to evolve to our core destinations and while we are seeing shorter lead times for these holidays, we are hopeful that the increasing consumer confidence will result in a strong lates market in those regions.”
The cash position on February 23rd was £19 million, which reflects significant investment in funding low deposit schemes and offline marketing.
This figure excludes £61 million of customer prepayments held in Trust.
The group also has an undrawn £75 million credit facility.
Cooper added: “While we are mindful of the ongoing inflationary pressures impacting our core consumer base, we look to the future with renewed confidence and believe On the Beach is favourably positioned to continue to gain market share as demand for beach holidays further normalises.”

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The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have called for the lifting of travel bans as they do not provide added value and continue to contribute to economic and social stress.
The two UN agencies agreed to collaborate on a global trust architecture for recovery of the travel sector.
Over recent days, a growing number of countries around the world have started easing their rules for international arrivals, including the easing of travel bans.
These decisions are in line with WHO’s latest recommendations for safe international mobility, which highlight the ineffectiveness of blanket restrictions in controlling virus transmissions.
Such a trend is also consistent with UNWTO’s repeated warnings of the great social, economic and development harm of restrictions.ADVERTISEMENTIn Geneva, the leaders of UNWTO and WHO agreed on the importance of easing or lifting travel bans.
Blanket restrictions should be replaced with risk -based, evidence- informed, context-specific policies.
“Guided by UNWTO, global tourism has followed WHO advice from the very start of this crisis,” said UNWTO secretary general, Zurab Pololikashvili.
He underscored the need to “continue to do so, and to open up again, safely and responsibly, and allow tourism to deliver on its unique potential as a driver of recovery and growth”.
According to the WHO International Health Regulations (IHR) Emergency Committee on Covid-19, all measures applied to international travellers should be based on “risk assessments – including testing, isolation and vaccinations”.
Furthermore, the financial burden of such measures should not be placed on travellers themselves.
“As countries ease travel restrictions, health must remain the key priority. By basing their decisions on evidence and a risk-based approach adapted to their specific context, countries can find the right balance between keeping people safe, protecting livelihoods and the economy, and keeping borders open”, said WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

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ABTA has launched new guidance to help travel agents incorporate sustainability into their business practices.
The guidance was developed in response to feedback from travel agent members for more support on how to adopt a sustainable approach.
There is also a growing recognition of an appetite among consumers for sustainable travel.
ABTA research finds that almost three times as many people now say that sustainability is important to them when planning their holiday, compared to ten years ago.
But ABTA recognises that how agents can engage in sustainability varies depending on the size of their business and resources available. ADVERTISEMENTThe new guidance is designed to help agent members find a sustainability approach that is suitable for their business, whatever their size.
It focuses on the four areas of sustainability – environment, destination management, animal welfare and human rights – as identified in the Tourism for Good report.
As well as summarising the different issues within each area, the guidance also includes advice on steps agents can take and case studies on what industry is doing, including from agents, tour operators and other suppliers.
As part of the guidance, ABTA recommends three ways travel agent Members could approach sustainability:

Address your own business operations – identify actions to reduce resource use, look after your staff or support your community.
Explore sustainability in your supply chain – find out how your suppliers are addressing sustainability. For example, do you sell any Travelife hotels? Do you know how aviation is reducing its emissions? Are you aware of products that most tour operators won’t sell and why, such as elephant riding or orphanage visits?
Engage your customers – think about how you can profile holidays that benefit communities or nature in your marketing and social media activities, to engage your customers and maximise your sales.
The guidance is free to ABTA Members and is relevant for all types of agents including online travel agents, those with high street stores or individuals working from home. It can be found on the ABTA MemberZone. It also includes links to ABTA’s other resources on sustainability including tips on how to sell sustainability.

Susan Deer, director of industry relations at ABTA, said: “Sustainability is rising up the agenda on all fronts – from customers to politicians, but it can be hard for travel agents to know where to start when it comes to adopting a sustainable approach as well as finding the time and resource to do this.
“We know agents have a lot on their plate in terms of rebuilding from the pandemic, so we want to make it as easy as possible for them to look at how they can incorporate sustainability into their businesses.
“Through our guidance we hope to help agents see how they can approach sustainability, recognising that even small steps can make a big difference, and that activities could help to save money on overheads and support sales conversations with customers.”
She concluded: “Even if customers aren’t raising sustainability with agents directly – it doesn’t mean that it isn’t on their mind.
“By being proactive and easing it into sales conversations, agents could help people feel more confident to book, particularly as 41 per cent say they are more likely to book with a travel company with a better sustainability record.”

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The UK Civil Aviation Authority has successfully prosecuted Romanian airline Blue Air Aviation for six offences under the Covid Enforcement Regulations.
Following a sentencing hearing at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court, the carrier has been fined £40,000, after pleading guilty to the offences.
Five of the offences concern Blue Air Aviation failing to ensure that passengers arriving at Heathrow had completed the required Passenger Locator Form.
The sixth offence concerns the operator failing to ensure an arriving passenger had the required evidence showing that they had completed a pre-departure Covid-19 test.
The prosecution and fine follows Blue Air Aviation receiving fixed penalty notices for the breaches of Covid-19 requirements, which they did not pay or seek to resolve with the Civil Aviation Authority.ADVERTISEMENTThis is the first prosecution of an airline under the Covid Enforcement Regulations, which gave new enforcement powers to the Civil Aviation Authority to ensure airlines check passengers arriving in England are complying with the Covid rules for international travel.
Commenting on the ruling by the Court, Paul Smith, consumer director at the UK Civil Aviation Authority, said: “We welcome the Court’s decision to fine Blue Air Aviation over breaches of the Covid Enforcement Regulations.
“While we generally observe high levels of compliance from airlines against the regulations, it is important for consumer confidence and public health that failures to follow the requirements are dealt with appropriately.
“It is important that airlines including Blue Air continue to engage with us going forward.
“The UK Civil Aviation Authority will always look to prosecute breaches of compliance where necessary.”

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The secretary general of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) will be in Geneva this week for high-level talks focused on the restart of tourism as restrictions on travel are eased in many parts of the world.
UNWTO last undertook an official visit to the home city of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2019, just one day before Covid-19 was officially declared a pandemic.
Now, as Switzerland joins growing numbers of countries in lifting or easing travel restrictions, UNWTO is back in Geneva for a week of meetings with key partners.
On Tuesday secretary general, Zurab Pololikashvili, will meet with WHO director general, Thedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, to discuss shared actions and priorities as the world begins opening up again.
The two UN agencies will discuss the need for the continued easing of restrictions, having repeatedly warned against their ineffectiveness and the damage that blanket bans on mobility can have on economic and social wellbeing. ADVERTISEMENTStrengthening ties with key private sector and civil society partners is crucial in the current circumstances.
Pololikashvili will meet with the director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Willie Walsh, as well as with Pierfrancesco Vago, chief executive of the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA).
These meetings will be followed by an official visit to the headquarters of UEFA.
Here, president Aleksander Čeferin will sign a first-ever agreement with UNWTO aimed at promoting sports tourism as a driver of positive change and making the sector more inclusive and resilient.
Against the backdrop of Switzerland announcing its plans to significantly ease restrictions on incoming travel, the UNWTO delegation will meet with Eric Jakob, ambassador of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), whose brief includes tourism policy, as well as with Martin Nydegger, chief executive of Switzerland Tourism.
In another first, UNWTO will be addressing the UN press briefing at UN Geneva, providing an overview of the outcomes of the official visit and highlights on the tourism for development agenda for 2022.

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The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released data showing growing momentum in the recovery of air travel as restrictions are lifted.
The body reported a sharp 11-percentage point increase for international tickets sold in recent weeks (in proportion to 2019 sales).
In the period around February 8th, over a seven-day moving average, the number of tickets sold stood at 49 per cent of the same period in 2019.
In the period around January 25th, again over a seven-day moving average, the number of tickets sold stood at 38 per cent of the same period in 2019.ADVERTISEMENTThe 11-percentage point improvement between the January and February periods is the fastest such increase for any two-week period since the crisis began.
The jump in ticket sales comes as more governments announce a relaxation of Covid-19 border restrictions.
“Momentum toward normalising traffic is growing.
“Vaccinated travellers have the potential to travel much more extensively with fewer hassles than even a few weeks ago.
“This is giving growing numbers of travellers the confidence to buy tickets.
“And that is good news!
“Now we need to further accelerate the removal of travel restrictions.
“While recent progress is impressive, the world remains far from 2019 levels of connectivity.
“Thirteen of the top 50 travel markets still do not provide easy access to all vaccinated travellers.
“That includes major economies like China, Japan, Russia, Indonesia, and Italy,” said Willie Walsh, IATA director general.

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Hornblower has closed on the acquisition of leading experiential travel group, Journey Beyond.
The Australian company will join a growing portfolio of travel experiences and further expand its global footprint in Australia with a presence in 111 countries and territories worldwide.
“In our continued efforts to position Hornblower as a global leader in experiences and transportation, we are always exploring growth opportunities that will help expand our guest offerings and leverage our core capabilities of operating world-class customer experiences,” said Kevin Rabbitt, chief executive, Hornblower Group.
“As two organisations with unmatched expertise in the experiential travel space, Journey Beyond aligns perfectly within our business strategy and core mission of creating amazing experiences for our guests.
“We look forward to growing the rich and unmatched business operations the Journey Beyond team has built as the premiere experiential travel company in Australia.”
Journey Beyond owns 13 Australian brands, operating in 60 destinations Australia-wide.  ADVERTISEMENT“We are thrilled to join the Hornblower global portfolio of renowned brands.  Journey Beyond and Hornblower share the same values and commitment towards what we do best – delivering one-of-a-kind guest experiences that create lasting memories,” said Chris Tallent, chief executive, Journey Beyond.
“We look forward to this next venture and we are excited to see Journey Beyond thrive within Hornblower Group into 2022 and beyond.”
With the completion of this acquisition, Journey Beyond will join Hornblower’s world-class offerings which include water-based experiences, land-based experiences, overnight cruises and experiences and ferry and transportation services across 111 countries and 125 cities.
The acquisition will support Hornblower’s overall business strategy to grow its product offerings in some of the most vibrant travel and tourism markets in the world.

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