NEWS


We are only two weeks from Christmas, and it’s going to be the strangest of our lifetimes for


the vast majority of us. Not being able to hug loved ones, no parties, no crazy nights out free from care. With all the positive noises being made around


Giles Hawke CHIEF EXECUTIVE, COSMOS AND AVALON WATERWAYS


The best present would be a return to normality...or a holiday


the deployment of vaccines and a return to some normality being predicted by the end of winter, hopefully we will be able to celebrate Christmas 2021 in a completely different manner. All these rays of light we are seeing will help people feel more positive about the future and the certainty they will be able to do normal things soon – and research shows there is massive pent-up demand for holidays. This is great news for us,


but what we don’t know is whether that demand will manifest itself in January, February or later in the year. Will we have a peaks anything like the last, or do people need more certainty to be able to actually commit to booking? Only time will tell, but it is 100% certain a significant level of demand will return and we will soon be firing on all cylinders with full order books for the second half of the year and into 2022.


if you think about it early. Using recycled and recyclable wrapping paper is simple, you can send e-cards and donate the savings to charity while reducing waste. Creating gifts can be fun and much more valued.


How about making sweets or biscuits at home and giving those? What about giving your time and gifting a walk in the countryside together followed by a coffee or glass of wine? How about providing your friends and family with holiday vouchers, or agreeing to buy each other a whole holiday? You and they are likely to go on holiday this coming year, so why not agree a budget and you buy for them and they buy for you? You could even get an amazing surprise!


“We will soon be firing on all


cylinders with full order books for the second half of the year and into 2022”


7KH JLƏW RI WUDYHO Taking a different approach to giving could bring you closer to those you care about and help do good for our world. Consider it! And imagine the good it would do for our industry if everyone who works in it started gifting travel and encouraging friends and family to do the same…we would all see a spike in bookings, help our businesses survive the


6WRS WKH VWUXJƐOH Thinking about Christmas made me consider presents and how people may use this very different year to break the cycle of buying ‘stuff’ because they feel they ought to. How often have you struggled to find the right gift for friends and family, or opened a present and feigned a polite smile and thank you through gritted teeth when secretly wishing your loved one hadn’t wasted the money? How much waste ends up in your bins during


Christmas week? So how about we all make an effort to break this cycle, reduce the ‘stuff’ we buy and think about experiences as presents? We could do good for our planet at the same time as being much more thoughtful and personalised. This sort of approach can work for all budgets and all tastes. Buying local and sustainably is easy


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winter and improve our own livelihoods while ending up with memories and experiences you don’t get from ‘stuff ’. If you went round your home now and searched


out everything you didn’t need, you could probably fill several boxes without much hassle. Why not sell those things online and ‘recycle’ them for someone else who really wants them. So let’s keep our fingers crossed for that


post-Christmas vaccine-driven pent-up demand bounce and focus on the best Christmas present ever; a return to normality where people see travel as a necessity and an opportunity to expand their horizons and minds. Let’s hope they are desperate to book with us so they can live their dreams and escape somewhere amazing in 2021.


Read more columns by Giles Hawke: go.travelweekly.co.uk/comment


10 DECEMBER 2020 13


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