Travel Weekly postpones this year’s agent awards


Travel Weekly reporters


The 2020 Travel Weekly Agent Achievement Awards have been postponed until 2021 to allow agencies and suppliers to fully focus on the challenges presented by the coronavirus pandemic. The AAAs have celebrated


excellence in the travel trade for the past 24 years and are regarded as the highest honour in the industry for both individual agents and agencies. This year’s ceremony was due to take place at London’s Park Plaza Westminster hotel on July 16. Stuart Parish, Travel Weekly


managing director, said: “The Agent Achievement Awards is an absolute highpoint of the industry calendar, and the decision to postpone the event for a year is one we have taken only after careful deliberation. “The travel industry and our


travel agent readers are facing their biggest-ever challenge, and it is entirely right that all firms should be fully focused on their staff, their customers and the future of their businesses in the months ahead.” He added: “Having considered


all options, including holding the event later in the year, we decided


that the most appropriate and supportive decision we could take was to postpone this year’s awards until 2021. “We hope this decision will allow


us all to come together as a united industry next year to celebrate the relationships that have become more important than ever in the current crisis.” Lucy Huxley, editor-in-chief,


said: “For more than 50 years, Travel Weekly has strived to inspire, inform, connect and support the UK travel industry, and never has that role been more crucial than now.


Tributes paid to Southern Cross


Travel founder Penny Bones The trade has paid tribute to Southern Cross Travel founder Penny Bones after she lost a four- year battle with leukaemia. Bones, who was a Premier Aussie Specialist, founded the agency, in Wadhurst, Sussex, in 1984 with husband Trevor. The couple originally established the


brand in Australia in 1970. i Full tribute: bit.ly/PennyBones


8 7 MAY 2020 “Like our readers, we have had to


adapt and respond to challenges we could not have envisaged a mere two months ago, but our team is passionate about providing the coverage, tools and support they need and deserve through travelweekly.co.uk, our social channels and our digital magazines.” She added: “We continue to


be in awe of the professionalism and commitment of frontline travel agents and the agencies they represent, and we will aim to make the 2021 AAAs a truly fitting tribute when the time is right to gather in celebration again.”


CAA renews 704 Atols after


delaying process by a month The CAA has renewed 704 out of 805 Atols that expired at the end of March. Forty-six applications have yet to be renewed pending further information, while 55 firms did not apply this year. The renewal process had been extended by a month to allow licence holders to focus resources on the impact of the Covid-19 crisis and to look after customers.


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Two-in-three Brits willing to travel abroad this year – Advantage poll


More than two-thirds of Brits plan to book through a travel agent in future “because they value the support and advice they give”, according to consumer research by The Advantage Travel Partnership. The agency consortium ran an


anonymous survey for two weeks from April 19 to May 3, circulated across the UK through Advantage’s network of independent travel agents, and supporters from within the industry. It garnered 4,228 responses. Spain topped the list of


destinations respondents said they were planning to travel to next, followed by Greece, Turkey and Portugal. More than two-thirds of


respondents said they would be willing to travel abroad this year if restrictions were lifted. Less than a fifth of respondents


said they would be considering a domestic holiday. Similarly, less than 20% of respondents said they had cancelled their travel plans for the rest of 2020. A fifth of those surveyed said the


coronavirus crisis had given them “a different perspective on life” and they were revising their travel ambitions as a result.


Travelopia shake-up for Hayes &


Jarvis and Austravel brands Travelopia is consolidating its UK tailor-made division, resulting in the loss of Hayes & Jarvis and Austravel as trade brands, and about 100 jobs. Hayes & Jarvis will increase its focus on complex, multi-centre holidays, sold direct-only, and will incorporate Australasia product, meaning the Austravel brand will disappear. Citalia and Sovereign will continue to sell through agents and will expand their programmes.


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