INDUSTRY EXPERTS
Roadmap to Recovery Travel Weekly webcasts: Our latest guests spoke in the wake of the su TRAVEL COUNSELLORS’ HUGHES
Paul Charles
Richard Singer
Travel xyx xyx y xy xyx yxyxy xyx xyx yx Gary xy xyx yxyxyxLewis
‘The government’s advice on Spain is devastating’
T
he “abrupt fashion” in which the government announced its travel restrictions for Spain will
devastate consumer confidence about booking holidays, industry leaders warned. The Travel Network Group chief
executive Gary Lewis said: “You can’t underestimate the huge impact this has on customers; on our members; on the momentum that was slowly building over the last four weeks around customers having confidence to start considering going on holiday. “We’ve all talked about what
happens if there is a second spike in another country. The government has set up a structure to be able to include and not include countries [in its ‘safe lists’]. But for Spain to hit now is devastating. For it to come in in such a fashion, it had a double impact on our ability to understand and deal with the logic.” Lewis said the “abrupt” introduc-
tion of restrictions to the UK’s biggest outbound destination, “seemingly without consultation or conversation”, had caused “such noise and fear”.
10 6 AUGUST 2020 Richard Singer, chief executive
of holiday price comparison site
icelolly.com, agreed, saying: “Yes, the government had said they could do this, but it’s the fashion in which they’ve done it that makes confidence just disappear from people.” Singer predicted that the
“handbrake” put on holidays to Spain by the government would dent consumer confidence for all overseas travel this summer. He added: “Regardless of which
destination you’re going to, you’re going to think ‘I’m not sure this is a particularly good idea’. “People will think ‘I don’t want
quarantine restrictions to happen to me’ or they will be thinking ‘my employer won’t pay for me if I have to quarantine’.” Paul Charles, spokesman for the Quash Quarantine campaign, said he thought it was unlikely the government would make a rapid U-turn on its decision to advise against all but essential travel to Spain. But he called on the government to share the data it is using to make decisions on travel advice with the industry.
Kirsten Hughes
Weekly’s Lucy Huxley
‘There’s never been a better time to set up in travel’
T
here has “never been a better time to set up a business in travel”, according to the managing
director of Travel Counsellors. Kirsten Hughes said the
homeworking business was taking on new recruits every week and was a “consideration” for anyone who was “despairing having lost their job” or who had found that working from home suited them during the lockdown. She said: “We’re getting a lot of
recruits. Each week we’ve had new starters – we have four this week. “There has never been a better time
to start your business in travel because it is going to bounce back – and bounce back quickly – so we are seeing a lot of interest.” Hughes said the lockdown had
shown people who might never have considered working from home before what it was like. “Everybody was forced to work from home, particularly independent travel agents, who have had to close down shops,” she said. Hughes highlighted “challenges” for the high street, such as having to wear
It is going to bounce back – and bounce back quickly – so we are seeing a lot of interest
masks and social distancing in shops. “It’s not easy to talk to somebody
with a mask on, and we don’t know how long that’s going to last,” she said. Hughes said she had taken on
many travel counsellors in the wake of industry employees being made redundant, including those affected by the collapse of Thomas Cook last year. But she acknowledged that “we
wouldn’t be right for everybody”. And she said the company had so
far not lost many of its homeworkers as a result of the crisis. “To date, our attrition [rate] has
been very low; probably lower than it was this time last year,” she added. “The strongest will survive. There
will be some casualties in the industry, but we’re all focused on getting as many
through as we can.” i Your Stories, page 20
travelweekly.co.uk
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