Scottish Passenger Agents’ Association (SPAA) president Mike Tibbert has urged airlines, airports and tour operators to provide clarity on their programmes for next year to allow agents to sell with confidence.
Speaking as the association hosted its inaugural Sparkle Awards in Edinburgh, Tibbert said one of the trade’s main challenges was ensuring supply kept up with demand.
And he urged suppliers to give clear guidance on their 2023 offering so agents could continue to capitalise on a robust appetite for travel.
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Tibbert said summer 2022 had been a largely positive season, though many departures were bookings rescheduled to this year due to the pandemic.
He said agents had “more or less caught up on that now” and added: “It remains to be seen whether that level of growth will continue.”
Tibbert said he remained “cautiously optimistic” about next year, despite soaring costs for businesses and consumers threatening to dampen the sector’s recovery.
“The rising cost of living, inflation and energy prices are definitely going to have an impact on the industry,” he said. “There will clearly be added pressure on people’s disposable incomes and we don’t know yet how much that will affect their desire to travel. On the whole we remain positive and cautiously optimistic. We’re confident the desire to get out there and see the world will always be there, but for some it might come down to paying utility bills instead of a second holiday.”
He admitted recruitment remains a challenge, but said the SPAA has initiatives to attract fresh talent to the sector, promoting how it can be a “rewarding and long-standing career”.
The SPAA is also continuing its lobbying of the English and Scottish governments and is constantly communicating with both to “raise the profile of the Scottish travel industry”.
Tibbert said he hoped to secure rates relief or “other kind of assistance” for businesses to “help them manage through the difficult period ahead”.
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