Terror attacks are changing the habits of holidaymakers

Budget airline Ryanair said that demand for North Africa has fallen over the past 12 months following the terror attacks in Tunisia. Instead holidaymakers are heading for Spain and Portugal for sunshine breaks.

Kenny Jacobs, chief marketing officer at Ryanair, told The Yorkshire Post: “Demand for going to North Africa has gone down over the past 12 months.

“People in Britain who used to go to North Africa are now saying I want the sunshine but I don’t want anxiety, so they’re going to Spain and Portugal. We’ve seen a massive shift of people from the UK now going to Spain and Portugal.”

The budget airline announced its 2016 winter schedule from Leeds-Bradford Airport yesterday. Ryanair said that the schedule would be 20 per cent bigger than the previous winter and has added Gran Canaria as a destination from the airport.

The company also said it would continue to run flights to Faro in winter after seeing high demand for the route for the upcoming summer.

Mr Jacobs said the increase in frequency of flights was down to the load factors it was enjoying at Leeds-Bradford.

“People in Yorkshire love getting away to the sunshine,” he added.

“The UK is one of our fastest growing markets but in this present year, that we’re coming into, Leeds will be growing ahead of Ryanair in the rest of the UK,” Mr Jacobs said.

While sunshine travel remains popular the firm is looking at the business travel sector for potential growth.

Mr Jacobs said: “The key message that I’m hearing from the community here is this is great for sunshine but will we see some city and business routes in the future from Ryanair and they’re very possible. If you look at how we generally grow our schedule at an airport we’ll fill our boots with sunshine destinations and then we’ll start to look at key city pairs.

“We will be looking at business routes to and from Leeds as a possibility in the future for more growth.”

The increase in the schedule is good for outbound travellers but also provides an opportunity for Yorkshire’s tourism industry. Mr Jacobs says people from other European cities want to travel to Yorkshire.

“When we go to other European airports, when we talk to people in those other markets, there is a strong demand to come to England outside of London and that’s something that is very important for Yorkshire and Leeds to tap into,” he said.

Mr Jacobs called on the region’s tourism bodies to market Yorkshire to the cities which the airline was flying to, in order to attract those tourists to the region.

The chief marketing officer of Ryanair said that the Northern Powerhouse concept was “gaining momentum” and more businesses are wanting to locate in Yorkshire. Currently, Leeds-Bradford Airport lacks a rail connection, making it difficult for passengers to travel to and from the airport.

Recently, Leeds-Bradford outlined ambitious plans to put one in place as part of its 15-year growth strategy. Mr Jacobs said: “Good connectivity from any airport to the local city is a key thing. All airports have to look at that.”

He added that many other Europeans are used to having fast connections from airports to local cities.

Airlines have been boosted by lower fuel prices. Mr Jacobs says the sector is well hedged when it comes to being prepared for any future rises in oil price. He added that it was a good time to be a customer.

Mr Jacobs said: “It’s going to be a competitive market. You’ve got a couple of things coming to-gether.

“You’ve got extra capacity being added and cheap fuel. It’s going to be a boom time for consumers to travel for less.”

Ryanair welcomed the Chancellor’s move to scrap Air Passenger Duty (APD) for under-16s.

Kenny Jacobs said they expect the Chancellor to scrap the “travel tax” altogether in the future.

Part three of airline’s makeover

Ryanair is currently in the middle of improving its image. The plan called Always Getting Better has been looking at how the ‘no-frills’ airline can improve customer experience.

The plan, which has been in operation for two years, has seen the airline look at several issues such as the availability of an app, improvements to its website, customer choice when it comes to choosing seats on a flight and baggage allowance.

Ryanair will announce plans for year three of Always Getting Better on April 12.

Despite the new innovations to improve customer experience, Mr Jacobs said the airline has been able to keep its cost advantage.