Glo-bustin the gloom

This article originally appeared in TravelWeekly Australia

Big interview: Stewart Williams, Globus Family
The Globus Family has some of the biggest names in escorted touring in its portfolio. Yet this was not enough to save it from the massive bookings collapse that affected the industry this year. However, as Justin Wastnage writes, the group has bounced back and is geared up for a strong 2010

If you jump first, you have to be pretty sure of a soft landing. When the Globus Family of brands launched its nine-day fortnight plan in the height of the travel bookings slump, some rivals assumed it was heading for a fall. Instead, after only a few weeks of depressed sales, the full five-day week was re-introduced, much to the chagrin of many Globus staff who had planned days off only to have to cancel.
When I meet Stewart Williams, Globus Family's managing director for Australasia, he is in an ebullient mood. The company not only survived the crisis, but has come through the other end with a bullet, seeing its earlybird offers over-subscribed and business up 240% on last year's numbers.
Not that 2009 was a bed of roses. The nine-day fortnight was a necessary reaction to a dramatic drop in bookings, he says. "When the global financial crisis hit we were down 40% but now we're back to being 22% down, which is not bad all things considered," he says. He adds that comparing 2009 against 2008 was always going to be tricky as 2008 was a record year, as was 2007.
After a disastrous start to the year, with Australians fearing the worst and holding off from booking, the cost saving measures were introduced in April. "We cut non-essential activity but were resolute we would have no redundancies," Williams says. However, after battening down the hatches and budgeting for a 40% drop in turnover, "lo and behold we started to climb back out in July and August," he says. By September bookings were actually up on last year, Williams adds. "We'll end the year 21% down, but if you'd asked me in April, I would have been chuffed with 30% down."
Globus is a Swiss company and when Williams compares his region with the rest of the world, he also feels he got off lightly. The US and Canada "got hammered" and the main operations in Europe were depressed. This has a knock-on effect, since Globus owns and operates the coaches that form the backbone of its core brands.
But as a general sales agent Williams just concentrated on defending his home market. Five years ago Globus was trailing competitors Trafalgar Tours and Insight Vacations in market share, he admits. He claims it has edged into second place ahead of Insight since then, albeit still a long way behind Trafalgar. Cosmos is also number one in market share in the budget sector of escorted touring.
Additionally, Globus and its river cruisingsister company Avalon Waterways won best tour and cruise operator in this year's Australian Federation of Travel Agents awards. Williams credits this to a renewed focus on customer service. Hesitant to draw any direct comparisons between Globus and its competitors, he says obliquely that, "we decided to improve our service levels. At the same time others were having problems with their reservations systems, telephone staff and response times, which we could capitalise on."
He says efforts made during that period have stood the reservations team in good stead for the downturn. "Everyone understood what was needed and why the cutbacks were necessary, but we had a target of sales to reach and the very next day after that was reached, everyone went back to normal work rosters," he says.
However, it was not the downturn per se that worried employees, but the uncertainty, he says. For this reason Globus has invested its own money in making the earlybird deals attractive this year. Airlines were already working at pared-back yields and were unable to move as far as Globus wanted, so the company had to dig into its own profits to ensure that the idea of booking early to net a bargain re-rooted itself in the public's mind. "It's not good for agents and it's not good for us if people start thinking the best deals are to be had booking at the last minute," he says.
Next year should be back to normal, Williams claims. Globus is investing in staff again. Customers will still be looking for something extra, he predicts, so value-adds will be a key part of any 2010 itinerary. A relieved Williams knows that whatever 2010 throws at him, it cannot be as bad as 2009.