Operators and agents are considering whether to stop taking bookings for travel before March 31 to avoid the “never-ending cycle” of cancelling and rebooking.
Lisa McAuley, managing director of B2B businesses for dnata Travel Europe, said: “We are having internal conversations now about whether we just say, ‘Right, no more bookings that depart before March 31, 2021’.”
“As soon as a [travel] corridor appears, it’s like somebody has turned the tap on. But then equally, something like lockdown happens and the tap is switched off immediately and you’re back into that process of just refunding. You’re in this never‑ending cycle of booking, cancelling and rebooking.
Speaking on a Travel Weekly webcast, McAuley explained how conversations with partners in Australia and New Zealand had given some optimism for a return in the fourth quarter of 2021, but noted: “They are still working with an element of uncertainty.”
She said businesses taking bookings that could be cancelled “still need the workforce to be able to undertake that task” of refunding.
“So you could be causing yourself a greater problem by turning on the tap and taking bookings, to only then have to refund them,” she said.
“The salesperson in me doesn’t want to turn a booking away. But then the realist in me says, ‘what’s the likelihood of that booking being able to depart?’”
Gary Lewis, chief executive of The Travel Network Group, said his consortium was already advising members who act as the principal not to take bookings for departures before March 2021.
“We talk about the emotional temperature of our members every day,” he said, noting that the average trading volume of members was about 7%-8% of last year.
“We’re saying to some members, ‘if you’re the principal, do not do bookings between now and March of next year’, because there is so much uncertainty until a vaccine comes in.”