For years we were condemned to physical travel agencies. The English Court is investing millions in demonstrating otherwise

The English Court has renewed 60 of its 430 travel officesand plans to reform another 44. The idea is to implement open spaces, sofas, digital screens, previous appointment and advisors with “emotional connection.”

Why is it important. The message to be sent is that the physical store has not died, but only needed a new experience.

In perspective. It is the classic play of retail Traditional: redesign the spaces to sell a transformation that between, especially, by the eyes. Along the same line as the changes applied to the low floors – the accesses – of some of its stores, modernizing the bookstore or giving more weight to the section Gourmet. EITHER The premiumization of its supermarkets.

What is at stake is the role that a traditional physical agency can play in the Skyscanner era, Google flightsAirbnb and Booking.

What is happening. Travel El Corte Inglés is more profitable (More than 100 million euros from Ebitda8% more than a year ago), but loses in volume against its great rival, Ávoris (Barceló Group).

To renew your offices is a way to reaffirm as a premium brand and differentiate in a world in which the average customer has become accustomed to organizing their vacations from your mobile.

• The physical network is reduced to transform.
• Personalized attention is insisted as an advantage over the digital model.

Between the lines. The reform is real estate, but first of all it is a way of sustaining the story: we are not a vestige, we are a luxury; We are not an agency, we are a space of inspiration. From store a Boutique.

The passage of time will tell us if this is a real modernization or if it is rather an attempt to keep the physical channel alive. The company has not gone wrong: after years seeing how the environment rewarded its new competitors, the English Court is still alive despite insistent rumors of serious crisis.

• There is also the doubt of the long -term value of that “human contact” as a differential pillar. He is seductive, but difficult to climb.

Yes, but. The new model has a very good press, but with the unknown of whether there is insufficient demand. There are still many clients who continue to go to a physical office, but they are increasingly minority. And those who do it, often look for something very concrete: custom trips, honey moons, large budgets. Can you sustain an entire model so capillary around those profiles?

In addition, post-pandemic tourism has recovered, but It has also changed. The traveler has become accustomed to certain flexibility levels, price comparators, online opinions, immediate decisions. All of that has a difficult fit in an agency by appointment.

• The decision to invest in so many offices sends a message: trips El Corte Inglés remains convinced that there is a place for physical agencies if they become experiences.
• It is quite possible that it is right, although it is a commitment against the direction in which the future of the sector seems to go.

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