Kuoni’s head of communications Rachel O’Reilly wants a kinder post-Covid industry
As an enthusiastic, professional traveller with a keen interest in sustainability, I have mixed emotions as we sit the COVID-19 crisis out.
The human and economic impact of the pandemic has yet to be counted but has already seen the UK Government paying the salaries of a huge section of the workforce, including many in travel.
I have spent all but a year of my working life in travel and never lost the thrill of an overseas trip. If I’ve ever been worried about work over the years, I’ve been reminded many a time by my medical mum that we’re not saving lives. I know when it comes down to it that travel is a luxury, and yet I still feel a deep sense of unease, sadness and loss.
Being unable to travel is part of it, but it’s not just that. All around I see people who’ve dedicated decades of their working life to jobs they love, only now to leave abruptly, prematurely and without any warm send off for the careers they’ve built. This is true of many industries now but I see a job in travel as unlike any other; to be in the holiday business is to be on the happiness front line, creating experiences which lead to life’s greatest hits.
So it’s heartbreaking to see tourism at an all-time low, with people all over the world having their livelihoods severed. From safari guides to housekeepers and bus drivers to travel agents, the travel economy has many tentacles which need a strong beating heart to thrive.
But alongside those feelings, I’m also experiencing hope, optimism and joy. Green shoots are appearing, skies are clearing and wildlife is making appearances in the unlikeliest of places. Levels of nitrogen dioxide, a gas released from car exhausts which is a serious air pollutant and indirectly contributes to the warming of the planet, have dropped by up to 60% in parts of the UK according to government figures.
The absence of cruise ships has seen dolphins return in greater numbers to the Italian port of Cagliari while people in Jalandhar in northern Punjab can see the Himalayas for the first time in 30 years thanks to the reduction in pollution. News like this seems a ray of light in a desperate daily digest of headlines.
As someone who didn’t board a plane until I was 16 and grew up on a farm in Yorkshire with holidays consisting of caravanning in Wales, ferrying to France or sunbathing in the back garden, the generational shift in travel is seismic. My own children have clocked up thousands of air miles and, at our last count, visited 13 countries between them and the eldest is not yet 15. I grew to believe travel gives children a confidence and education that can’t compare with any classroom.
But, before the coronavirus crisis took hold, I’d developed a sense of apprehension. Like many of us who work in this diverse profession, I’ve taken a keen interest over the years in sustainability. I was at Tui in the 1990s when the Travel Foundation was formulated by the Blair government with the aim of making mainstream operators more conscious of their impact on the destinations we send our customers to, and their economies. It felt like a bold move at the time, albeit a drop in the ocean as the low-cost airlines and online travel agents rapidly expanded. My interest and understanding of sustainability in travel grew when I went on to consult for the Travel Foundation years later and founded the Make Holidays Greener campaign, now an annual awareness campaign in the safe hands of Abta.
I’ve got friends and neighbours who’ve joined Extinction Rebellion and I’ve watched Greta Thunberg inspire our kids and speak truth to power. I empathise with their pleas and admire the disruptive tactics. But I’m worried the mood had changed latterly, pointing a stern and disapproving finger at anyone jetting off for enjoyment’s sake.
In recent days I’ve read pieces about New Zealand’s tourism plans which are being rebooted to face new challenges, opportunities and a different way of working. The tourism minister has said they have an opportunity to rethink their entire approach to tourism to ensure it will make New Zealand a more sustainable place, enrich the lives of its people and deliver a sector which is financially self-sustaining in the longer term. Their plan to work with key partners to ask questions, listen, and create something to be proud of, something that genuinely gives back more than it takes, seems like a blueprint for other destinations.
While now there is work to be done saving lives and managing our way through this crisis, I also hope we’ll collectively keep our eye on the horizon. To stem the frenzied growth. To find a way to travel which is kinder to the places and people we love, but loses none of the joy and fun it brings.
Like many of my friends and colleagues, I want to feel proud of what we do. Travel is a brilliant thing and I can’t wait until the world opens up again. But I hope that, by working hand-in-hand with our overseas partners, we can take time to consider a better way to travel for business and for pleasure.
Keep it simple is a mantra to live by. But simple isn’t the same word as easy. It’s going to take lateral thinking, smart brains and bold leaders to take us in a new direction.