Muted welcome for loans extension Juliet Dennis


Longer repayment terms for Bounce Back Loans may not be enough to ease the debt burden on travel agents if the industry takes longer than other sectors to recover. Agents gave a muted welcome


to the government’s decision to give firms more time to repay state-backed loans of up to £50,000, handed out interest-free for the first 12 months from May last year. Chancellor Rishi Sunak has now


extended the repayment period from six to 10 years and given options to pause repayments for six months, or pay interest-only for six months.


But many agents said the lack of


certainty about future travel meant they did not know when they would be able to make repayments, and feared long-term debt. Pole Travel director Jill Waite,


who took a £50,000 Bounce Back Loan, said extending the term was “good news” but added: “I’m going to have to use my loan for rent. It will help, but we will go into debt. “What if, in another six months,


travel has not started back up and I owe £50,000 to the government?” Gemma Antrobus, owner of


Haslemere Travel, also took a £50,000 loan and has used it to pay bills and rent. She said: “We’ve not had the


Poon Tip predicts rapid revival for travel this year


Samantha Mayling


The founder of G Adventures has urged the trade to put 2020 behind them, “forget the losses” and focus on future trips. Bruce Poon Tip said the adventure


specialist had done “everything we can” to support travel agents through the pandemic, including offering sales support and sharing trends data. Speaking on a Travel Weekly


webcast, he said the operator had received messages from agents who “didn’t think people would book”, but that G Adventures’ salespeople, known as its global purpose


6 11 FEBRUARY 2021


specialists, had encouraged agents to “discover more passion, purpose and happiness . . . to get people to commit to travel.” He said the operator’s support


“gives [agents] the ability to start talking to their customers”. Poon Tip quoted recent US TV


series Ted Lasso, about an American coach employed to run a struggling English football team, where the title character urges players to be “goldfish” – a reference to the creature’s short memory. He said agents should adopt


that trait as the sector seeks to recover from the pandemic, saying:


What if, in another six months, travel has not started back up and I owe £50,000 to the government?


luxury of sitting on it for a rainy day. Are we supposed to be grateful [to Sunak]? He has no choice [but to extend the loan terms]. “At the moment there is no way


travel businesses can pay loans back. And we don’t know if we’ll be earning any revenue from May.” C The World director Carolyn Park said a six-month ‘payment holiday’


was useful provided the industry was up and running by autumn. She stressed most agents do not earn money at the point of booking. “I’m hoping six months will get


us to a point where we don’t have to use our loan and can pay it back,” she said. “I don’t want to get into debt.” Cruise homeworker Jack Kay,


director of Jack’s Cruise Club, took a £16,000 loan. He said: “The Bounce Back Loan was for last year. Half of mine went within a day. We need the same amount again for this year.” Antrobus insisted support should be in the form of grants, not loans. “We should not have to get


ourselves into more debt,” she said. i Comment, page 12


Bruce Poon Tip


Travel Weekly’s Lucy Huxley


“Sometimes you have to just forget the losses and move on.” Poon Tip believes rapid home-


based Covid tests, and reduced quarantine restrictions, as well as the vaccine rollout, will be key to the return of travel this year. Predicting travel will “come back


quicker than people think”, he said: “A lot of people are motivated to travel as soon as they can” and noted older customers might travel before younger people as they will receive vaccines first. G Adventures is currently running tours to Tanzania and operating tests


with the Peruvian government to ensure new protocols are effective on the Inca Trail. “We want to be in the forefront of


convincing people to start travelling again,” said Poon Tip. He also suggested the pandemic


had “amplified” customers’ awareness of the environmental impact of travel, and that G Adventures had “adapted” tours in response.


Watch the interview with Bruce Poon Tip at: go.travelweekly.co.uk/webcasts


travelweekly.co.uk


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