Flight Centre’s head honcho has renewed faith in the domestic leisure market after seeing an increase in customer enquiries and forward bookings.
According to Graham Turner, the company was among the agency group to benefit from a 4.4 percent increase in short-term overseas trips booked in July this year.
Figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics last week, found 822,200 Aussies secured a holiday during the month, which was above the 2.9 percent average growth rate in the last financial year.
ABS findings are in-line with Turner’s statement last month, in which he said there was ‘positive momentum’ in leisure travel despite consumer confidence remaining flat.
“Customer enquiry is currently tracking above target and sales in key sectors continuing to grow.”
Graham Turner, Flight Centre Managing Director
“Gross margins in Flight Centre brand have also rebounded and we have started to see some improvement in the niche leisure brands.”
Positivity in the market comes three months after Flight Centre revealed leisure sales in the domestic market fell short of its normal growth trajectory during the 2014/15 financial year.
At the time, flat leisure bookings was expected to have impacted Flight Centre’s trading results. However, final results revealed last month that the company broke a stream of financial records during the 12 months.
Flight Centre now forecasts its 2015/16 underlying profit before tax to rise be eight percent higher than the 2014/15 year. The assumption is based on modest growth in leisure sales.
The company is also expecting attractive airfares to help drive leisure growth in the coming months. Among these sales include Sydney to Honolulu from $511 return, Los Angeles from $899 and New York from $1,187.
