THE travel industry needs certainty on a start-up date for domestic and international travel so that agents can start selling, says Asata ceo, Otto de Vries.
“Just give us a date! Tell us when things will open, because then we can start selling travel with some level of confidence, knowing that on that date everything will be open again and that lead times can be met!” he says.
The travel industry appears encouraged by the return of business travel – subject to authorisation and strict bio-security protocols – in Level 3. Most industry heads agree that Level 3 is a step in the right direction, but not enough to sustain the cash-strapped industry. “It’s imperative that we maintain the momentum in engaging with government, lobbying them and supporting them by providing input into the recovery plan,” says Otto. “We are being heard better than before, but challenges we face are the complexity and diversity of our industry; and the fact that we are dealing with multiple ministries and departments.” He adds: “Some of the decisions show a profound lack of understanding of our industry.”
Sure Travel ceo, Vanya Lessing, agrees: “It’s all very well allowing travel agents to go back to work, but until our borders and all airports open so that we can get back to full operational capacity, there is just not enough business to sustain us.”
Andrew Stark, md of Flight Centre Travel Group MEA, says: “It shows an appetite from government to start moving the economy forward, but I believe travel will be very limited. It’s by no means going to set our industry alight, but it may be a sign that domestic (leisure) travel may open in July/August, which I think is encouraging.”
Everyone agrees it’s too early to gauge demand. Flights won’t start until mid-June as airlines prepare for the restart. Corporates that have been working remotely need the next week or two to re-assess their travel needs. Asata is still trying to ascertain which authorisation form is needed for business travel; and if flight inventories will be accessible to agents on GDSs, says Otto. Travel Counsellors SA gm, Mladen Lukic, says questions remain about flight schedules, frequencies, pricing methods, vouchers that people hold, and the situation around SAA, Mango and Comair.
Andrew thinks travel will pick up as more routes open up and capacity increases. “We all have to start thinking more creatively and think out of the box in order to start creating demand.” He says Flight Centre is looking at innovative ways to stimulate travel across mass and premium markets by removing the hassle and time constraints that accompany new bio-security protocols. He believes the outbound industry will be smaller, but healthier and more competitive when international travel returns, which will be good news for SA travellers.
Otto says some government departments are expected to be among the first to start travelling again. Emergency corporate travel and companies who have a backlog in travel are also among the first who want to travel, says Mladen. He also foresees corporates, particularly those in manufacturing that have lost overseas suppliers and need to renegotiate contracts, to start travelling soon.
However, Mladen says, corporates have provided feedback that they are not keen on being the guinea pigs of the new bio-security system. “Once we have had some departures that have validated the system and once airlines have fine-tuned the process, corporates may show more confidence in returning to air travel. It’s going to be important to have a gradual return to higher levels of travel. What we don’t want is a yo-yo scenario of moving between alert levels, because a lot of businesses are investing in restarting their production lines. They will not do so if they don’t have a reasonable guarantee that we are not returning to Level 4,” he says.
