
What challenges and opportunities await the travel industry in the next five years? That is the common thread in the traditional Top 50 interview with opinion leaders from the industry, which was published in the anniversary edition of the Top 50. Want to reorder the Top 50 in print? Click here! Because of the 25th anniversary of the Top 50, we are mainly looking ahead. “People will continue to travel.” This year’s discussion participants, led by publisher Tom van Apeldoorn, are: Joyce Fonteijn (Kupers Reizen), Hilda van der Wel-Gonzalez (Avila Reizen), Helen van Berkel (ATPI), Maaike van der Windt (at the time of this interview director at de Jong Intra Vakanties for three weeks), Nico Bleichrodt (Holland America Line), Hans Knottnerus (Sunny Cars), Frank Oostdam (ANVR), Don Kaspers (The Travel Club), Charles Verstegen (Transavia) and Arjan Kastelein (Personal Touch Travel). The interview took place during a dinner at Restaurant Bloei/Hotel Flora Batava in Nieuwersluis. Van Apeldoorn: ‘What would it mean if there was 30 percent less capacity at KLM? Fewer flights, that problem is coming.’ Van der Wel-Gonzalez: ‘Restrictions on these trips would have a major economic impact on many countries, resulting in growing poverty and more migration. Tourism has many positive aspects that we need to highlight and make consumers aware of the reasons to continue supporting long-distance travel.”
Van Apeldoorn: ‘It’s almost hopeless in the media to say that it’s a good idea to go on holiday.’ Oostdam: ‘The alienation is enormous. I do have concerns about the image of travel and tourism in general. We are already in the corner of the tobacco industry. Look at politics and NGOs. It’s just bashing on tourism.’ Van der Windt: ‘It also starts with ourselves. We have to recognise that things have to change and take our responsibility to make travel more sustainable.’ Van Apeldoorn: ‘But how?’ Van der Windt: ‘There is no single silver bullet. We all know that the train is not yet good enough and that electric flying is still a long way off, but we have to slowly but surely get something going together.’ Knottnerus: ‘Only one percent of the people who book a car with us want an electric car…’ Bleichrodt: ‘Our society is striving for climate goals between 2030-2050, but it’s as if the travel sector has to be ready tomorrow. The media is increasingly talking about flight shame. A journalist recently asked me whether consumers also suffer from cruise shame. All ugly words and mood-mongering. And every day I’m stuck in traffic. First, look at yourself. Do you need two cars, for example? Apparently, the travel sector is a quick win for the media and politicians.’ Van Apeldoorn: ‘Are consumers asking for more sustainable options?’ Fonteijn: ‘There are no customers who actively ask us about it, no. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do anything about it.’ Oostdam: ‘We have an obligation to take action ourselves. The ANVR is working on a new sustainability ambition. That will rub off from time to time. I’ve been in sales and when it was said that there was no demand for a product, my reaction was: if you don’t put it down, then there is no demand for it. Put more sustainable products in the ‘shop window’. Van der Windt: ‘As a travel industry, we have to tackle it collectively.’ Kaspers: ‘In the business market, you do see huge shifts, especially from companies that require employees to choose the sustainable travel option(s).’ Van Berkel: ‘Absolutely. Especially in listed organizations, where compliance and governance are very essential. You’re talking about 40 percent of the corporate organizations.’ Kastelein: ‘But they have to. Individual consumers have much less of that ‘need’. Knottnerus: ‘It’s also a mindset. Before corona, I used to go to Munich twice a month, but I haven’t been there for three years. We have those conversations online. That is also a decision of principle from myself.’ When asked where his company will be in five years’ time, Charles Verstegen (Transavia) answered: ‘We want to keep flying on the market with a good feeling. Accessibility is currently under considerable pressure. Hold on to your heart next year to see what the rates will do. Then what Schiphol is going to do, what it is going to shrink in capacity, but also what other airports such as Rotterdam and Eindhoven are going to do. It’s really not getting any cheaper in the Netherlands. Accessibility is really under pressure, that’s what I’m fighting for. But we want to maintain the good feeling, for our employees that they can fly well and safely, but also for our customers and partners.’ Kastelein (Personal Touch Travel): ‘In any case, we are on the right side of the industry with our independent travel advisors. We are, of course, lean and mean and always will be. We have made it very clear in our mission that we want to be the best travel company in the Netherlands.’
Digital Read the full interview in the digital edition of the Top 50: Back to the Future. And read the new list of the 50 largest travel companies. This one has a new top three after years. In addition, many newcomers, not only in the Top 50, but also in the sublists of largest tour operators and retailers. Order the new edition of the special Top 50 issue of TravMagazine here.
Photo (from left to right): T.J. van Apeldoorn (TRAVel Media), Arjen Lufgendorff (TRAVel Media), Joyce Fonteijn (Kupers Reizen), Frank Oostdam (ANVR), Theo de Reus (TRAVel Media), Don Kaspers (The Travel Club), Nico Bleichrodt (Holland America Line), Hilda van der Wel-Gonzalez (Avila Reizen), Hans Knottnerus (Sunny Cars), Helen van Berkel (ATPI), Arjan Kastelein (Personal Touch Travel), Tom van Apeldoorn (TRAVel Media), Maaike van der Windt (at the time of this interview, director at de Jong Intra Vakanties for three weeks) and Charles Verstegen of Transavia. (Photo Bastiaan Musscher).