Fresh barriers to travel’s recovery A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
The mood in the industry was subdued this week as events and government strategy presented fresh barriers to recovery, and yet more companies announced redundancy consultations ahead of the end of the furlough scheme next month (page 7). As a number of speakers in our Future of Travel Week sessions noted, continued changes to travel policies and shifts in infection levels across Europe have effectively torpedoed hopes of a meaningful winter-sun season after the damp squib of summer (page 6). Meanwhile, momentum behind calls for progress on airport testing slowed as the demands that previously made the front pages of national newspapers were overtaken by events in the UK and the government’s battle to prove the UK testing regime is fit for purpose (page 5).
Amid the downbeat mood, there was a resigned acknowledgement among many speakers that companies and the wider industry must now work on the assumption of limited external assistance to help them make it through the winter. One imminent hurdle to overcome is the September 30 end date for the issuing of new refund
credit notes (RCNs), after which only those already issued will have Atol protection (page 4). The CAA and the trustees of the Air Travel Trust were understood to be considering an extension to that date as Travel Weekly went to press, and insiders hope it should be a formality. Agents and operators alike will be praying for a rare swift and definitive decision to enable them to reassure customers and avoid additional refunds costs that could tip some over the edge.
Lucy Huxley, editor-in-chief, Travel Weekly Group CONTENTS NEWS
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40 travelweeklyuk @travelweeklyuk 24 SEPTEMBER 2020 3
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WHAT LUCY DID THIS WEEK
OCaught up with Google’s Finnbar Cornwall to review the stand-out points from our Future of Travel Week.
OHeaded to Virgin Atlantic’s state- of-the-art training facility to host a special live webinar for leisure agents.
OWas delighted to meet Elaine Ferry of Elaine’s Travel in Wiltshire, who was a long way from home visiting friends in my home town in Kent.
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