EDITORIAL

By Jason Moore THE doom and gloom merchants struck again before Christmas but once again they were proved wrong. Last November the tourist trade were sounding the alarm bells because holiday sales for summer 2004 to the Balearics had slumped. I asked at the time just who books their holidays six months in advance, most people just wait for the special offers which come out in late Spring. Thankfully, holiday sales to the Balearics have recovered in Britain. But the doom and gloom merchants struck again claiming that the shops sales in Majorca would be a complete disaster. Thankfully again, they were wrong. In other words our buying habits are changing. This is not unusual it's just common sense. Naturally you want to get the best possible deal and take advantage of the latest offers. This state of affairs must annoy all those people who spend their days compiling useless market studies but it is a fact of life. But we are not at fault, it is all those companies which slash their prices when their articles are not selling. So perhaps the best solution to avoid this state of affairs is to introduce the system used by the “no frills airline.” The further ahead you book or buy, the cheaper it is. Not the other way around. Every tour firm in the world would love to have most of their summer programme booked by early Spring. In other words, it's cash in the bank. So introduce the summer offers first and then as the departure dates get closer bring in the full brochure price. A similar system could be employed on the High Street. Allow shops to have sales in late November and early December. As we have seen in Britain most people did the bulk of their Christmas shopping on Boxing Day taking advantage of the sales. A similar state of affairs has occurred in Majorca. Shoppers and holiday bookers are now a more savvy bunch of people and saving money is King. The way forward appears simple to me but I am sure that there will be multiple reasons why it can't be introduced by the merchants of doom and gloom.