After months of being on furlough, several months of dealing with unhappy consumers and day after day of being thrown curve balls by our government, it’s no wonder our industry is feeling battered and bruised. Depending on the type of person you are, the news you consume, and your general mental wellbeing, you can either see things looking like they are on the up or you can send yourself into a spiral of negativity. At Flexi Reps we are speaking to lots of operators, cruise lines and a wide variety of suppliers. Most of which fall into the glass half full section…. which is great.
When we have read the news this week there is a real mixture of ups and downs. Some good news and some bad. Depending on what you consume will absolutely play a part on how you feel. We are feeling glass half full for sure. Most companies we talk to have a sense of optimism for 2021 and look forward to putting 2020 behind them. Lots of business’s are adapting quickly, and as we have mentioned before, plenty are adjusting their product offerings and adding more destinations.
This week we have also seen Travel Weekly host a range of live broadcasts from many industry leaders all giving their open and honest views. Its refreshing to see one of the outcomes of Covid bringing people closer together, even though technically we have never been further apart. How many homes have you now seen and how many colleagues’ kids and pets have you met…whether invited into the call or not!
All this can only serve as positive as we hurtle towards the end of a rough year. One thing is also clear, relationships really do matter and as you all now the travel industry is all about people. We hope that people can come though this mentally strong and slowly begin to feel optimistic. Cruise lines are talking about sailing dates, airlines are gearing back up, destinations are slowly coming off the quarantine list and consumers are ready to travel. Hearst publications survey of over 65,000 consumers showed that half are looking to travel in the next three months. Gaby Huddart, group editorial director of Hearst’s Lifestyle & Homes division, said: “The appetite has not gone away at all. Reader research shows travel is still the highest priority when it comes to disposable income.”
Gaby also said: “I think this is a really good time for travel agents – for my demographic having the reassurance of a travel agent is going to be really important. Trusted advice from somebody in the know will be a really important thing, particularly moving into next year.”
Surely this a good reason for travel agents to be optimistic?? Let’s all hope we see the Canaries open up in the next couple of weeks and those customers in the “we want to travel” camp get to travel and start the slow recover of a winter in an industry we all love.
Lets all try and head into this weekend with a “Glass half full” attitude and get our minds switched on for slow, but positive steps, towards repairing our industry.
Have a great weekend
