Comment: Tier 4 could be good timing for travel

Those in the travel industry could easily have thought to themselves, 'it can’t get any worse' after tier 4 restrictions were announced over the weekend.

Then, if that wasn’t enough, 40 countries shut their borders.

This may seem like bad news on the face of it but, actually, there is light. In fact, the light isn’t just on, it’s shining bright if you look for it.

It may seem hard to believe but, for the travel industry, this could be good timing. If we think back, the reality is that extra lockdowns were always a very strong possibility during winter.

Having extra travel restrictions now, while we are in hibernation mode for Christmas and New Year is better.

Like it or not, we all need to come together and support the global effort to quash the virus, get the vaccines in circulation and stop the spread. Once serious inroads have been made, a version of normality can resume. It’s better we do it now while we are quieter, than let it drag out into summer 2021.

So where is the light? From what we are seeing, there has never been such as pent-up demand for travel. In fact, people are desperate to travel, to seek sanctuary on a beach in the sunshine, to relax without confinement and to experience having a drink at a bar (which isn’t accompanied by a scotch egg).

A 2021 version of peaks is right around the corner and customers are wanting to book. There will be three types of customers right now.

1. Those who won’t book now. 2. Those who will book but need help to understand their options because it’s a new world out there. 3. Those desperate to book (and if they don’t book with you, they are definitely going to book with someone else).

The opportunity for all of us in travel right now is to fill our forward bookings with more bookings than ever before, giving us a newfound sense of security.

It’s always great to enter a month knowing you’ve got commission coming into your bank account. 2021 and 2022 could be the best examples of this. We know short-term cashflow is not as good as we would like it to be, but we have the power to make our future commissions whatever we want them to be.

Customers are there and wanting to book. In fact, many may not even realise they can book right now and benefit from the great offers which exist, because they either don’t know who to turn to, or didn’t know it was okay to book. Sounds crazy, but it’s true.

Strong supportive messaging and being the best possible travel consultant you can be will make all the difference this peaks season. You may have to go and look for customers, but they are there and they are ready to book.