SURE TRAVEL is still going strong despite the impending closure at the end of this month of its wholesale subsidiary, Sure Tours, says ceo, Vanya Lessing.
She says the decision to close down Sure Tours – and instead opt for a five-year preferred partnership with Thompsons Holidays – forms part of the now completed three-year restructuring of Sure Travel into a “leaner and meaner” retail consortium that is re-focusing on its core business of procuring the best products and service for its 110 member agents and producing the best value for its 74 shareholders.
She says despite the recession, more than half of Sure Travel members in 2010 grew their businesses. Freeway Travel recently joined up and three more membership applications are in the pipeline. Internally, the company has slimmed down from an initial nine subsidiaries to four remaining ones: Sure Travel Pty Ltd, Sure Corporate Pty Ltd, Sure Online and Agent Points.
Vanya says Sure Tours had “massive support” from Sure Travel members and always competed “fairly well” against its competitors. The company opened up to the wider market but then was hit by the two-year economic downturn when most people stopped travelling. She says considerations that led to its closure include its recession-linked strained financial viability; questionable future sustainability; a competitive analysis against its competitors; and the cost of required heavy future investments in technology and international suppliers. “We also had a look at the market share we have, our volumes of sales, and we realised that we would need to grow Sure Tours by at least double to make it profitable.”
She defended Sure Tours’ recent strategy of focusing on television rather than print advertising, saying it was informed by professional media advice and had resulted in “phenomenal exposure” for the Sure Travel brand. “I have the statistics to prove that because we invested in TV [advertising], we are now top-of-mind together with Flight Centre. Our website receives 1 000 hits a day.”
Following the three-year restructuring of the group, the Sure board, mandated by all shareholders, instructed Vanya to seek suitable alternatives to supply the group with wholesale product. The preferred agreement with Thompsons Holidays took effect on March 2. Sure Tours ceases operations on March 31. Sure Travel has given all its suppliers and members guarantees that all paid bookings for travel after that date will be honoured and managed through Sure Online.
For more on this story refer to TNW March 16.
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