BEFORE I retire in June after 43 years of mainly retail travel work, I have cast my thoughts back over the many changes in the industry.
Takeovers are nothing new. Names such as Blue Sky, Dean andDawson, Wings, Horizon and Wakefield Fortune are now history.
And despite the pessimists (and gloaters) the trade survived after the Clarkson, Exchange, Braniff Airlines and Intasun collapses.
Pocket calculators, cheque guarantee cards, credit cards and decimal currency have made for easier cash handling. Currency allowance restrictions for UKcitizens have long gone, and with them the ‘V’ form needed for the cost of hotels on overseas package holidays.
AIDS was unknown. But even going to the US required smallpox vaccinations. A visit to Spain was impossible without a visa.
Making a long distance telephone call to London or anywhere outside your local area meant going through the operator. Air and rail reservations were obtained by mail. Thomson and Sealink became the first major viewdata suppliers in 1982. Now we move on again past Galileo, Sabre and others to Teletext, Digital TV and the uncertainty of the Internet.
Yet some things never seem to change. Why do pensioners, with all day at their disposal, call in at lunchtime? Why can’t clients see a brochure on the rack right in front of them, or put it back on top of the same ones? Why do we always get plenty of brochures for which there is little, or even no demand and yet few, or even none, for those constantly requested by our mutual clients?Why are we still underpaid for a job that needs patience, knowledge and client care?
So why did I stay so long in the trade?One has to say partly inertia. But mainly the enjoyment of meeting the constant challenge of a wide variety of requests, and the satisfaction of seeing clients’ needs met and handled through to fruition.
Trade relations are less personal now, but I shall never forget those who early on in my career gave support and encouragement to an innocent beginner.
Cyril R Skippen
Hertford Travel
Hertford