ao link

 

Step
Swanson is a believer in retail – both Tui's own stores and sales through third-parties

The model, perhaps, is Tui’s 2018 purchase of Musement, an Italian start-up which Tui has grown but allowed to keep its own identity.

 

It’s all global in scale and designed, partly, to allow Tui to move into new markets – the operator started selling packages to consumers in Latin America in September, offering trips to Europe, Asia and North America. Here, Tui uses a digital platform, but is also harnessing the power of local agents.

 

Retail 'a real differentiator'

 

Back in the UK, Swanson stresses agents have not been forgotten. While his background is in digital – he joined the then Thomson brand to set up its first websites in 2001 – Swanson in 2015 took over Tui’s retail and contact centres, and is a fan of the high street.

 

“I love having the brand out there,” he says. “It’s somewhere customers can go to talk to us at any time. I think it’s a real differentiator for us versus Jet2holidays and easyJet [holidays].”

 

Tui has 332 shops and will open “a few more” yet. “We look for what we call white space areas, plotting our catchments and seeing where we have gaps,” he says. “Retail is doing very nicely, which I love because I think it’s a really important part of the brand.”

 

With Tui UK ready to relocate from Wigmore House after 20 years to a new Luton HQ, just down the road from easyJet holidays, more change is in the offing.

 

But with Swanson clearly well-versed in the direction of travel, Tui’s global ambitions would appear to be aligning with its already global reach.

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