NEWS


In today’s hyperconnected world, travel is no longer planned in a vacuum, it’s


Gemma Antrobus OWNER, HASLEMERE TRAVEL, AND CHAIR, AITO AGENTS


When headlines simplify the truth, be a provider of facts and nuance


often planned in the shadow of mainstream media headlines. As a luxury travel designer, agency owner and chair of Aito Specialist Travel Agents, I’ve watched the shift happen in real time. Where clients once visited the office with pure aspiration and excitement, they now arrive carrying a quiet, persistent question: what am I not being told? And they are looking to us for guidance. This is not fear in the traditional sense. It is


something more nuanced, more emotional and, in many ways, more human. Because if the past few years, especially during the pandemic, have taught us anything, it is that the world can change overnight. Borders can close while you sleep, airlines can ground a fleet in a split second and certainties can dissolve by morning. Before Covid, travel


planning was largely an exercise in want and desire. Today, it is equally an exercise in interpretation. What does this headline really mean? How far away is that disruption? Is this a genuine risk, or simply proximity amplified by a 24-hour news cycle? I’ve lost count of the times I’ve had to explain to clients that where we live is closer to any geopolitical disruption than where they intend to travel. However, the recent conflict in the Middle East


has brought back an emotional residue from the pandemic. Clients remember cancelled trips, lost celebrations and the strange limbo of waiting for the world to reopen. That memory hasn’t faded; instead, it has reshaped behaviour.


Time is precious And yet, alongside that caution, there is something else, something more urgent – a sharpened awareness that time is not to be taken for granted. If Covid took travel away, even temporarily, it also intensified our desire to reclaim it. But headlines can exert a quiet power. A single


news alert can unravel months of anticipation and a destination can fall out of favour not because it has fundamentally changed, but because the perception of it has. The nuance is lost; the emotional response


14 2 APRIL 2026


is immediate. Plans are paused, rerouted or abandoned altogether. But here’s the truth we don’t say often enough:


headlines are not designed to guide decisions, they’re designed to capture attention. They flatten complexity into something digestible, often stripping away context. A country becomes a cautionary tale and a city becomes a symbol, with the rich, layered reality in between quietly overlooked.


“I am no longer simply curating experiences, I’m helping clients


Beyond the news cycle This is where our role has fundamentally evolved. I am no longer simply curating experiences, I am navigating emotions. I am helping clients distinguish signal from noise and reality from amplification. This is never achieved by dismissing their concerns, because they are valid, but by grounding them in something more substantial than a fleeting news cycle and providing them with factual, well-rounded information. During the pandemic,


distinguish reality from amplification”


the value of trusted expertise became undeniable. When everything felt uncertain, clients didn’t turn to algorithms, they turned to people. They sought advice from those who could interpret rapidly changing rules, who had relationships on the ground and


who could offer clarity when it was in short supply. That trust has endured, but it now carries a deeper expectation – not just to inform, but to steady. There is an art to that steadiness. It requires


honesty without alarmism and reassurance without complacency. It means sometimes encouraging a client to proceed, and other times gently advising them to pause. It is, above all, about credibility, because in a world saturated with information, credibility is the rarest currency of all. Headlines will continue to shape perception, but they do not have to define our decisions or those of our clients. Beyond the noise, beyond the fear, and beyond the memory of what was lost, the desire to see the world for ourselves remains remarkably resilient. Let’s ensure it’s us that our clients call to help them actualise this.


Read more by our guest columnists: travelweekly.co.uk/comment


travelweekly.co.uk


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52