FRONTLINE
colin burns branch manager, Hays Travel, Washington, Tyne & Wear
Viva Las Vegas! New York, New York! I’ve
just blown in from the Windy City! Sorry, I’m just getting a bit carried away with the USA! The recent announcement of the
US border reopening was a huge boost, especially for specialists in this huge market. When the rest of us celebrated the relaxing of restrictions for Europe and the Med, those suppliers had to sit tight and wait for better news.
I was having a chat last week with my friend and colleague, Michael Smiles, who looks after us agents for Hays Tour Operating (HTOL). While HTOL operates in multiple markets, the US has always been a big part of its business. Before the reopening announcement, HTOL had managed to continue decent US sales using its ‘Peace of Mind’ guarantee, with an average lead-in time of 367 days. However, soon after the announcement this lead-in time dropped to 232 days as customers looked to get away sooner.
CONFIDENCE GROWS Staples like New York, Orlando, Las Vegas and California have seen the biggest boosts but they are not alone. Multi-centres and tailor- made itineraries are also bouncing back, and there appears to have been a knock-on effect for other long-haul destinations too as the announcement coincided with an overall increase in sales.
24 28 OCTOBER 2021
The reopening of the US is giving many in the trade reason to proclaim ‘God bless America’
Several weeks ago, I spoke to
two customers who had booked Christmas shopping trips to New York this December. One could see no end to the closed border policy so decided to take advantage of the Peace of Mind guarantee and cancel with a full refund. The other decided to stick it out, waiting patiently for good news while they planned the details of their visit. Obviously, their gamble paid off and they are now really looking forward to their trip. They certainly aren’t the only ones, as cancellation rates for US holidays have fallen significantly in
AGENT
recent weeks as confidence grows. Michael said HTOL is also seeing customers asking to bring forward trips booked for the end of 2022 and early 2023, though those eyeing the key destinations this year are having to accept some big price increases due to climbing demand.
NORMALITY RETURNING While I’m not getting carried away, it does feel that normality is in touching distance for our beloved industry, although that brings its own challenges – dare I mention the ‘R’ word, recruitment? As in other sectors, recruitment teams are working hard to fill vacancies, and at Hays Travel we are seeing retail and head-office teams showing great flexibility to cover any gaps. Over the past 18 months, many people have simply had enough of trying to do their job, only to be knocked back by external factors, and I have said before I was tempted to walk away in the worst days of lockdown. I stuck with it in the hope we could get back to being the travel professionals we signed up to be, and I hope some who did leave will now look for opportunities to return. The US reopening is a massive step back towards normality. So let’s look forward to less doom and gloom and more of those Star-Spangled days of sunshine!
TRAVEL BUG BITES DEEP FOR JULIA
On the subject of people coming back to our fantastic industry, Julia has returned to my shop! She left us eight months ago after almost 30 years of service to take up a post away from travel but couldn’t stay away any longer. I asked her what had changed her mind and she admitted that she found she couldn’t walk past a Hays Travel shop without crying! Celebrating her return, my next question was more practical. “Do you need to order a new uniform?” I asked. With an almost embarrassed smirk, she replied: “No, I have my old one in a box under my bed
‘cos I couldn’t bear to throw it away.” The travel bug bites again, and let’s hope Julia isn’t the only one who sees the light!
‘Welcome back!’: Julia
travelweekly.co.uk
SharonDavidKimCarla Clare SharonDavidKimCarla Clare diary diary
Colin
Colin
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