Travel agents claim working practices will change once the coronavirus pandemic ends – but deny this will mean abandoning the high-street.
Agents on a Travel Weekly webcast admitted that the fact businesses had been forced to make staff work from home as a result of the current crisis was bound to impact how businesses operated in future.
But they were adamant they would continue to run shops on the high-street.
The 95-store agency group Barrhead Travel was in the process of expanding its shop network when the pandemic hit. President Jacqueline Dobson confirmed store openings would still go ahead, but the timing had to be right.
She said: “It [the coronavirus crisis] will change the way businesses operate. We still have these new stores just about to open; we will open them when the time is right.”
Trevor Davis, group operations director of miniple Spear Travels, said: “I think it will change the way travel agents work and the way customers book their holidays. A lot of people will think ‘I can run it without having a high street store’. That’s not our plan.”
Travel Bureau joint managing director Jeanne Lally said: “If someone had told the team from the beginning of March you will all be working from home I think I would have had a riot on my hands but everyone has adapted to it.
“I don’t think retail is dead but this will change how we all work. It will come down to the cost base. Shops will need to be there but we have learnt a lot as a business and learnt they can adapt. People have discovered they can do things in a different way.”
Meanwhile, the agents said there were also some positive signs in terms of travel bookings, with new business coming in for the future, particularly in the long-haul and cruise sectors.
Travel Bureau reported an appetite for river cruises and long-haul holidays, while Dobson said: “Long-haul has stood out and that’s where we are getting the most traction, and cruise for the winter and first quarter of 2021.”
Davis added: “The bookings we are doing are primarily long-haul. The cruises are rebookings but not a lot of new bookings.”
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