Summary
Travel companies have recently had to weather the storms of recession for their customers and major upheaval at popular holiday destinations around the world.
Evan Davis finds out how airlines and tour companies plan for their seasonal business in light of economic crisis in Greece and political unrest in Egypt and North Africa - getting it wrong could lead to financial disaster. And guests will discuss the future for Greece, where tourism is seen as the biggest hope for reviving the economy.
Guests: Peter Long, CEO TUI Travel Carolyn McCall, CEO Easyjet Andreas Andreadis, CEO SANI Resort
Producer: Lucy Proctor.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Thank you for downloading this program. |
| 0:02.0 | In this edition of the bottom line, Evan Davis and guests from the travel industry |
| 0:05.6 | discuss the business of planning our holidays. |
| 0:08.9 | Hello and welcome to the program. |
| 0:11.3 | Now, I don't suspect you ever think about just how complicated the travel business is, |
| 0:15.9 | but consider the range of holiday choices out there, the number of buyers, |
| 0:20.4 | the logistics of matching the two, |
| 0:22.6 | and then even getting people to and fro. |
| 0:25.3 | So today we focus on travel, a business that is not for the faint-hearted. |
| 0:30.5 | Three very different travel businesses are represented around the table in front of me, |
| 0:34.2 | one which flies, one which gives us a place to stay on a sunny beach, |
| 0:38.6 | and one which does a bit of everything, especially packages that include the lot. So let's take a |
| 0:43.5 | minute to meet each of my three guests. And we'll start with you, Peter Long of Tuwey Travel Group. |
| 0:49.6 | You're a travel industry veteran, Peter, if you don't mind me saying. Yes, I've been in the industry 29 years, Evan, so I consider myself as the granddad |
| 0:59.1 | of tour operating. |
| 1:00.2 | Right. |
| 1:01.2 | And Tuwee Travel, it's a big brand, Thompson, first choice. |
| 1:05.3 | They are two of our brands, that's absolutely right. |
| 1:07.4 | And just to break it down, you sell packages, but you've got an airline, you've got |
| 1:11.7 | quite a few different bits. Yes, we've got a very broad offering. The largest part of our |
| 1:16.1 | business is selling package holidays and we take 20 million customers a year on holiday and we |
| 1:22.8 | operate out of all the markets across Europe as well as Canada and Russia. So it's a very diverse business. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.