According to Euronews.travel, UK agents are seeing record-breaking bookings post-pandemic but there is evidence from other sources that, despite a boom, the retail industry may still be at risk as it is suffering the stress of the two-year hiatus in business.
The news channel reported one UK agent as saying: “I think our reputation has got better because of the pandemic and therefore business is absolutely crazy at the moment – and there’s no end in sight.”
Flight Centre UK General Manager, Liz Mathews, said their agency welcomed a huge number of first-time customers following the initial chaos of the pandemic. “I think there’s a lot of nervousness and a real appetite to have a person that people can entrust with their all-important travel plans.”
And, in the agents’ favour is that many non-agent clients lost out on refunds during COVID, while agency clients received theirs within 24 hours.
Despite the optimism about the return of business, website traveldailymedia.com reports that there is a movement inside the industry to seek government help to redress the harm done to the sector by the two years of the pandemic.
As the demand for international travel increases, many retail agents are still under stress and at risk due to debt, while the future is still unknown and uncertain and travel restrictions continue to exist in some countries.
Now, agency brands Advantage Travel Partnership (ATP) and Specialist Travel Association (AITO) are urging the UK Chancellor to recognise the challenges that the current economic environment presents to the outbound travel sector.
The two agencies say that many of these are SMEs that provide vital employment and economic support within their local communities. They also point out that businesses operating in this sector could not take full advantage of the UK’s Coronavirus Jobs Retention Scheme (CJRS) because dedicated staff had to continue working to process amendments and cancellations for many millions of customers. As a result, many outbound travel businesses now find themselves saddled with significant levels of debt that they had to take on in order to survive.
Julia Lo Bue-Said, CE of ATP, said the sector needed to show the new UK government the significance of the industry and the role it played in driving prosperity. She said in 2019, the outbound travel sector contributed £6,9bn (R142,2bn) to the UK’s tax revenue. She emphasised that the industry would benefit from the flexibility that should now be available in the regulatory environment afforded by Brexit.
