Es ist einer Wunderbar Welt!

So what's going on this Christmas at Thomas Cook?  The Germans are coming..

On the one hand,  Mike Hoban, Thomas Cook UK & Ireland’s new marketing director, says their 'turn-of-the-year campaign will be launching on Christmas Day' and it will be their 'biggest push for some time including TV, radio, online and press advertising'..

But, on the other hand, I also see that Thomas Cook's post-Christmas ad plans have been ditched, without a replacement lined up...??

It seems the ongoing shake-up in senior management has hit their 'biggest marketing push' 

Thomas Cook was expected to roll out the next iteration of its brand campaign using the strapline 'It's a wonderful world, explore it with us', which broke in March.

However, it's understood that those plans were abandoned following the arrival of Mike Hoban in September as director of marketing, brands and customer insight.

Following the appointment of Peter Fankhauser as its UK chief executive last month, TC may now 're-purpose' a TV ad created for the German market to ensure that it does not miss out on crucial bookings in the weeks after Christmas.

A spokesman for Thomas Cook said: 'We're excited about our plans for the important peak booking period, [but] naturally the detail is commercially sensitive. We are considering all options open to us - as you would expect when a new marketing director joins - but Thomas Cook will be on air.'

By the way...arch-rival TUI is expected to launch multimillion-pound campaigns next month for its Thomson and First Choice brands. In September, Thomson rolled out a £5.5m campaign promoting its new Dreamliner aircraft...

Club Med all-inclusive sales up over 50%..

Last words from me on the all-inclusive debate.

I see all-inclusive resort operator Club Med is reporting double-digit sales increases at many of its European resorts for summer 2011.

Club Med claims that the results are driven by the continued popularity of all-inclusive holidays at the higher end of the market as holidaymakers seek to control their budget.

Percipient marketing from Tui and First Choice then, as the British Retail Consortium record the worst fall in High St sales since their records began in 1995 (BRC sales)

UK visitors to the Club Med resort of Beldi in Turkey were up 59%, Da Balaia in Portugal up 54% and Napitia in Italy up 49%.

Att same time, A YouGov survey undertaken for of Club Med UK of 2,000 people last year showed that almost 60% of Brits intended to spend the same amount or more holidays in 2011 than in 2010. And over 40% of respondents said that going on an all-inclusive holiday was less stressful than booking flights and accommodation separately.

All Inclusive at First Choice.

So, First Choice has decided to sell only All-Inclusive holidays next year.

Clearly, from a marketing and business point of view this makes perfect sense.

Sales of all-inclusive holidays have increased steadily for the past five years and in First Choice’s case, their all-inclusive market has grown by 32% and is expected to account for 65% of all First Choice sales this year.

From a marketing perspective, the move also clearly now differentiates TUI’s family-focused First Choice holidays from Thomson and its other competitors.

With strong, distinctive brands and clearly differentiated products, TUI can move further away from customers choosing tour operators based on cost alone.

First Choice will go on to promote itself as the number one choice for affordability in hard times. By squeezing more value out of their hoteliers they can help customers worried about their finances to budget better. Not only is that good business sense given the current climate, but it’s also good news for the group’s margins as All-Inclusives drive up average selling prices.

But I’m not so sure the news will be universally welcomed by many resort based businesses already struggling with falling arrivals and the increase in ‘wristband tourism’.

I accept holiday products should respond to demand and cater for all tastes, but as a travel enthusiast, I despair at the thought of any holiday, not matter what the price, spent wholly in an All-Inclusive resort. Going abroad should be about experiencing what the destination has to offer not about spending 1 or 2 weeks eating, sleeping and drinking in a complex and never venturing outside the gates.

More should be done to promote resort facilities and local attractions and to provide sustainable tourism before All Inclusive arrangements kill off some resorts for good.

A possible development could be where destinations pass legislation limiting the percentage of hotel rooms that can be used for All Inclusive guests. I understand Lanzarote has already capped the percentage of all Inclusive rooms at 40% in a bid to save the local economy and provide customers for the many local businesses.