Portuguese travel agents warn that passengers face increases, in terms of ticket prices, of up to 20% as a result of the constraints caused by the war in the Middle East-
Jet fuel has already increased by a dizzying 76%, leading to airlines, including TAP, introducing ‘supplements’ to cover the new costs.
Travel agencies are thus “adopting strategies to minimise the impact”, writes ECO online. These include ‘booking early’ to guarantee best prices, and choosing destinations on cost-security bases – “researching routes and airlines least exposed to the shocks to fuel and greater commercial flexibility”.
Miguel Quintas, president of ANAV (the association of Portuguese travel agencies) said there is “a greater focus on providing personalised customer support, with a view to finding the most efficient combinations of price, stopovers, baggage allowances and change conditions.”
In this context, the “role of the travel agency is even more relevant, because it can help the consumer navigate a market that is simultaneously more expensive, but volatile, and more subject to operational changes,” he said.
Even so, agencies are seeing the bigger picture, and not expecting ‘roaring success’ for business this year: “There is greater awareness of price, more comparison of options, and people are looking for ‘low-risk’ destinations that are also economically balanced.”
While Portugal is being seen as one of the countries that will ‘benefit’ from the redistribution of demand by travellers who are now seeking “safe/ stable countries”, agencies here are realising that their job accommodating nationals seeking to holiday elsewhere has become a great deal more complicated.
Source material: ECO online
