Derek Jones

Kristina Wallen, the dazzling Managing Director of Harp Wallen was kind enough to invite me to a beautiful al fresco celebration of their 20 years in business.   I joined them on the roof of the Marriott Hotel at Marble Arch to share some memories and to toast the future.   It’s a testament to Kristina’s success over the years that most of the great and the good of the travel industry turned up for the event. For me, it was my first public outing since the Kuoni Group announced that REWE had acquired the UK business (subject still to EU approval) and a chance to gauge the industry reaction which, I’m delighted to say, was wholly positive.   A reminder once again that the Kuoni brand enjoys huge affection from colleagues in the industry and that they too had a stake in securing a positive future for the business and the people who work for us. As well as offering up congratulations on a successful outcome, many colleagues were intrigued to hear more about the process...

I hesitate to tell you about Catherine Barnett.  Catherine is head teacher at Eveswell Primary School in Newport, and last week she reignited the debate about children being allowed time off school to take holidays during term time.  In a triumph of lateral thinking, Catherine decided to schedule all of next year’s teacher training (inset) days during the same week in June, meaning parents of pupils at her school can enjoy a lower cost holiday without being penalised with a fine. The reason I’m loathe to bring her plan to the wider attention of the travel industry is because somewhere in the dusty recesses of a tour operator’s head office, those who practice the dark art of yield management will be noting this information and trying to find out exactly which week in June these teachers are to be trained.  After all, such a spike in demand should be worth at least an extra £100 per family on that weekend’s Cardiff departure to Majorca. I exaggerate of course - there...

Every now and then, a faint memory from my childhood is reignited by a random connection with something I happen to be doing right now.  One minute I’m pouring cornflakes into a bowl, the next I’m a seven year old in a purple tank top making Blue Peter’s Thunderbird Island on a Formica kitchen table.  A simple puncture repair on one of the kid’s bikes can instantly create a time-warp, allowing me once again to become Liverpool’s very own Evel Knievel, jumping over other (smaller) children on my red Chopper bike. I’m certain both of these memories are reasonably accurate (even the purple tank top bit) but occasionally something pops up, clear as day, which seems somehow too far-fetched to have really happened. Take this for instance: The other day I’m wondering round an out of town Retail Park when I spot an Argos catalogue pallet.  My mind flies off at a tangent: It’s October, probably 1971, maybe a year either way.  I’m heading out of the front door for schoo...

Simon Reeve is nearing the end of a marathon tour of the UK. Hosted by Kuoni and our partner travel agents, Simon has been talking about his travel experiences and taking questions from customers. Simon’s a lovely guy but he’s definitely not a mouthpiece for Kuoni or for the travel business – he’s a journalist who reports what he sees.  If you’ve watched his TV programmes you’ll know that he’s just as happy talking about the rights of indigenous people in Australia or the challenges of rubbish disposal in the Maldives as he is highlighting the stunning views on the Great Ocean Road or taking a tour of a five star Indian Ocean resort. He’s often asked why he doesn’t focus more on the positive stories (and he concedes that perhaps on occasions he should) but his ‘warts and all’ approach doesn’t put our customers off travelling.  If anything, they’re even keener to taste a destination – even a fly and flop beach holiday to the Caribbean – once they understand more about th...

I’m sure Her Majesty the Queen is very much looking forward to spending a day with the beautiful people of the British travel industry when she officially names the P&O Cruise ship Britannia on Monday. With its Union Jack (Flag?) livery and regal name, Britannia will be a head-turner in every port of call; a mobile endorsement of Brand UK. The Queen might well find herself thinking, ‘What if One wanted One’s own cruise line? How many of these beauties would One’s wealth stretch to?’ The answer sadly for Her Madge, is none! The Sunday Times Rich List puts the Queen’s personal net worth at about £385 million – enough maybe to buy five decks, a few restaurants and possibly a pool or two, but still more than a hundred million short of the full kit and caboodle. And that’s for a Britannia… if she wanted say, an Allure of the Seas she’d be looking at three times that. All of which is a very long winded way of saying cruise ships cost a lot of money… a shed load of money! Not ...

Do more people book holidays in January because that’s when travel companies advertise most, or do we advertise most in January because that’s when more people book holidays? I’m not sure I know the answer to this – it’s probably somewhere in between – but one thing is certain; if customers are persuaded by TV adverts, it’s going to be a bumper start to 2015. Right now, there must be more travel ads on TV than ever before. Airlines, cruise companies, tour operators, travel agents, UK breaks, destinations, bed banks, comparison websites – everyone is up for a piece of the action. Choosing the best is impossible; each one has its own merits. At Kuoni this year we wanted to do something to stand out from the crowd – so we found Lenka, a synchronised swimmer who can walk on water. One of the challenges of travel advertising is that if you’re not careful you end up just advertising holidays, rather than your own individual product. How many holiday ads of recent years can you reall...

The first time I travelled on a plane I was nineteen years old.  Up to that point all of my holidays had been with my family in the UK.  We went by train to caravan parks at the seaside; Skegness, Blackpool, Llandudno, Scarborough.  My childhood was like one great big episode of Coast. They were happy times.  We lived in a terraced house in Liverpool where my dad worked for the Council. I’m sure there were sacrifices that I knew nothing of but we never missed a holiday.  Always a fortnight in August and always packed with excitement.  I must have spent hours playing on tupenny shove machines with my sister at the end of the pier arcades, perfecting my crazy golf windmill timing and throwing chips to seagulls! I fell in love with travel during those summers.  I remember my dad lifting me up to put my head out of the train window (no health and safety back then), watching the world whizz by with the wind in my hair, and knowing that this was all I w...