Another Day, Another Year

Having been otherwise occupied when it put in its weekly appearance, I only got round to scanning through the most recent local "Euro Weekly News" the day before yesterday, and then via the paper's website and its virtual newspaper - or is that virtually a newspaper? Whatever. Something caught my eye; it was the page three story. So I saved it for future reference, i.e. to read yesterday. Having read it, I realised there was something not quite right. What was it? I went through it again, and then saw the small header above the actual article headline - "News Review 2008". That was it. The article was a year old. You see, everyone does a review of 2008. Euro Weekly, me, The Bulletin, everyone. The point was, though, that it took a while to penetrate my brain that what I was looking at was old news. Partly, this was because it was not very obvious that it was old news, and partly because the article could just as easily have been written this year. Indeed, the article was hugely coincidental because, in my review of 2008 (on 4 January), the first item for January last year was a thing about tour operators cutting capacity. And the article in Euro Weekly was on that very theme - TUI and Thomas Cook cutting large numbers of holidays from their 2008 Mediterranean programme, including of course Mallorca.

Now, this is the same story this year. Cuts to capacity, and everything's going to be dire. Of course, the economic situtation has deteriorated, but what was the reality last year? The major tour operators may indeed have set out by cutting capacity. It doesn't follow that they didn't sell similar amounts as the previous year, i.e. 2007. The point being that the tour operators, who, let's face it, are not stupid, take a look at the general climate and think, well maybe we should cut back on our commitment. And it is this that they do. It does not mean that they cannot get capacity back if there is demand. You can be assured that they will find capacity if it means being able to sell a holiday. So when you see all these grave warnings about tour operators slashing the numbers of holidays, just bear in mind that it may not be as it seems.

One other thing from the year-old EW piece was that the tour operators were planning on cutting the number of reps. This they are doing. Indeed, my understanding is that TUI wishes to make greater use of "remote" services, such as helplines, in replacing the number of reps who, let's be honest, don't always have a great reputation, and that can be because they are not given adequate information.


Break A Leg
Driving along the carretera in the vicinity of The Foxes Arms yesterday, who should I see with a raised bonnet of a knackered car but Jamie of the Foxes. Back from Australia. Not the car, that is. But there was a somewhat remarkable aspect that they - Jamie and Karen - ever got there, given that Karen decided to go and break an ankle at the airport before heading off and putting in twenty odd overs a day buffeted by the Freemantle doctor. You see, they're made of tough stuff in Leicester. And if anyone doesn't know what the reference to the Freemantle doctor is, then you don't know your cricket in Perth.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Morrissey (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IbJQ4YAPRo). Today's title - line from a song by a Glaswegian soft-rock band. Think hairy cornflake.

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