THE biggest challenge retail
travel agents face right now is
load shedding, with agencies
losing business and having
to fork out big sums of cash
to invest in back-up power
systems.
The impact of the budget
speech on consumer
confidence is “nothing”
compared with the challenges
South Africans and retail
travel agencies face currently
with the Eskom crisis, says
Garth Wolff, ceo of eTravel.
Tammy Hunt, operations
director of eTravel, says the
company has installed costly
equipment in its offices in
Cape Town and Johannesburg.
“These generators are
large enough to run a small
village so we can work in
fully lit, fully air-conditioned
offices with IT infrastructure
operational during load
shedding,” she says.
Dinesh Naidoo, group
operations director of
Serendipity Worldwide Group,
says the company has
invested over R100 000 in
back-up equipment. “Prior to
load shedding, we had a UPS
back-up that could handle
just the core function of our
operations. After we realised
that load shedding was here
to stay we purchased a few
more UPSs to power up our
entire operation. Each UPS
can handle between five and
six computers and costs
approximately R8 000/unit.”
The loss of business as a
result of load shedding is
also concerning, agents say.
Jonathan Gerber, director
of TAG, says load shedding
is damaging the psyche
of business. “People are
become despondent, which
leads to less travel and a
general downward trend in
trading as travel is invariably
one of the first industries
to suffer from negative
sentiment.”
“Not being able to service
our clients immediately is
frustrating as we want to
provide a speedy service,”
says Michelle Boshoff,
Pentravel’s national
operations manager.
“Consultants have to play
catch up when the power
comes back on and this puts
them under pressure for the
rest of the day.”
A spike in power when
electricity goes off or
comes back on also affects
equipment, she says. “If the
power is off for long periods
this could affect the Telkom
back-up infrastructure, which
then leaves us without
phones and customers
calling are unable to get hold
of us during these periods.
