Senior industry figures have warned failures are likely before there is a serious pick-up in bookings.
Chris Photi, head of travel and leisure at White Hart Associates, told a launch event for the Travel Weekly Insight Annual Report: “Some businesses will be limping badly towards the spring.
“Easter seems to be when the feel-good factor should filter through. But cash could be an issue. Businesses that have hibernated, kept overheads low, should be in reasonable shape for a bounce back. But with a bounce back you have to spend, not least on marketing. I expect a few more failures.”
Alan Bowen, legal advisor to the Association of Atol Companies, argued Easter may be soon for a bounce back, saying: “There is a real problem with consumer confidence and I suspect it’s going to be near summer before we really see bookings coming in.
“Operators need to be prepared for the fact that we’re not going to see the sort of peak season bookings we have in the past.
“We were incredibly lucky this year. January was a wonderful booking month and a lot of operators had a lot of cash as this disaster began. The situation is different now. It’s a case of holding on to what you have and keeping costs under control.”
However, Bowen said: “We’ve seen incredible resilience on the travel agent and tour operator side.”
Photi noted that at least the debt many businesses have taken on through government support schemes should not add to the financial burden through the recovery.
He said: “The debt won’t need to be serviced for at least 12 months. Repayments aren’t going to impact businesses yet.”