Sector needs ‘working furlough’


Juliet Dennis and Lucy Huxley


The trade has reiterated calls for more flexibility in the furlough scheme while welcoming its further extension. Chancellor Rishi Sunak extended


the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme until the end of March 2021 last week. Agents said it would save costs


but stressed more sector-specific help, such as a ‘working furlough’ scheme, was still needed to save jobs. Abta chief executive Mark Tanzer


said: “While the extension may seem positive, it needs to be much more flexible to make a difference to jobs and travel businesses.” Noting “staff will have to work on


rebookings and refunds, but won’t be generating any income”, he predicted “more brutal months ahead” for the trade without tailored support. A Kent MP promised to raise the


issue with the chancellor this week. Tom Tugendhat, Conservative MP for Tonbridge and Malling, made the pledge after a virtual meeting with constituents who work in the industry, including Baldwins Travel joint managing director Nick Marks and Jayne Peirce Travel Recruitment owner Jayne Peirce. Tugendhat described the sector’s


Covid-induced plight as like “hitting the brakes on the motorway at 70mph” and suggested: “Perhaps a [scheme] for working staff would be sensible. I can see what


Trade considers drastic measures to break cycle


Lucy Huxley


Operators and agents are considering whether to stop taking bookings for travel before March 31 to avoid the “never-ending cycle” of cancelling and rebooking. Lisa McAuley, managing director of B2B businesses for dnata Travel Europe, said: “We are having internal conversations now about whether we just say, ‘Right, no more bookings that depart before March 31, 2021’.” “As soon as a [travel] corridor appears, it’s like somebody has


6 12 NOVEMBER 2020


turned the tap on. But then equally, something like lockdown happens and the tap is switched off immediately and you’re back into that process of just refunding. You’re in this never-ending cycle of booking, cancelling and rebooking. Speaking on a Travel Weekly


webcast, McAuley explained how conversations with partners in Australia and New Zealand had given some optimism for a return in the fourth quarter of 2021, but noted: “They are still working with an element of uncertainty.”


Perhaps a furlough


[scheme] for working staff would be sensible


you’re saying about not earning, yet you still need your workforce.” Peter Cookson, chairman of Spear


Travels, who has put all 59 staff on furlough, said: “If things improve we will have to take more people off furlough to cope, with negative income, so it would make sense to allow some form of paid furlough working.” Lisa McAuley, managing director of B2B businesses for dnata Travel Europe, told a Travel Weekly webcast the extension gave “breathing space” but said furlough should not be used


“to mask more-profound problems”. Gary Lewis, chief executive of


The Travel Network Group, said the update allows firms to “rest” employees as they can now place staff on furlough who had not been on the scheme before. He added: “Anything that protects costs has to be welcomed.” Advantage Travel Partnership


chief executive Julia Lo Bue-Said said the extension meant businesses could now “plan for the months ahead” but stressed: “The industry desperately needs an exit strategy.” Scottish Passenger Agents’


Association president Joanne Dooey said: “It [furlough] helps our employees, but businesses still have fixed overheads to pay every month.”


Kieran Shew, Icelolly.com


Lucy Huxley, Travel Weekly


Lisa


McAuley, dnata Travel


Gary


Lewis, TTNG


She said businesses taking


bookings that could be cancelled “still need the workforce to be able to undertake that task” of refunding. “So you could be causing yourself


a greater problem by turning on the tap and taking bookings, to only then have to refund them,” she said. “The salesperson in me doesn’t


want to turn a booking away. But then the realist in me says, ‘what’s the likelihood of that booking being able to depart?’” Gary Lewis, chief executive of The Travel Network Group, said


his consortium was already advising members who act as the principal not to take bookings for departures before March 2021. “We talk about the emotional


temperature of our members every day,” he said, noting that the average trading volume of members was about 7%-8% of last year. “We’re saying to some members,


‘if you’re the principal, do not do bookings between now and March of next year’, because there is so much


uncertainty until a vaccine comes in.” i Get Social, page 27


travelweekly.co.uk


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