As most of the people will be making the most of the bank holiday weekend the travel sector, and everyone in it, still waiting with baited breath to see the news break in the coming days on the resumption of international travel. We at Flexi Reps have been out this week for Spring Hotels and you can really feel the tension, due to uncertainty, lingering in the air from travel agents and consumers.
The toughest part of all at this, at this uncertain stage is the huge amount of speculation. All news and media outlets bring on “experts” to offer a view from the comfort of their armchair. Many of whom have never even worked in the sector. Even if they had how on earth can they offer anything of value other than their own biased opinion, often in a positive spin for their own interests.
What would be great to see on TV is the government task force, the experts they are talking to and then someone with lots of experience in running the various element that make a holiday. The travel agents, tour operators, airport chiefs, airline bosses, hoteliers, cruise operators. Where are they in all this, we need to hear them sharing how frustrating and frankly impossible it is to plan. Let us hear from the staff at local restaurants in resorts waiting to see if they will have any income this year.
There is some good news. It seems the NHS app will work and be widely accepted for the lucky ones to be old enough to have been double jabbed before the summer kicks in. Take a moment to be grateful of a system that has worked so well in the UK.
It has been a very rough ride for our industry and although things are looking promising there are a few things we still need. While friends try and make the most of a bite to eat outside their local pub, or hang out with friends wrapped up, we will be spending the weekend hoping that the global task force can come up with something that is very clear for all travel providers and simple for customers to understand. This will need Mr Shapps to talk to his colleagues at the FCO and the government to keep pushing the cost of testing down…hopefully to zero! Couple that with cooperation from destinations around the world being consistent on policy and we may well see the stars align for a fantastic summer 21 and beyond.
