Comment: The industry’s lack of PR expertise is being exposed

The travel industry is excellent at many things. From selling all types of special-interest holidays abroad and at home, to pushing forward on diversity, equality and inclusion in the workforce, the sector brings passion, professionalism, creativity and determination in a way many other industries can only envy.

But there is one area that the sector, save for a few pockets of excellence, has been getting steadily worse at over the past two years, and the decline is starting to show significant cracks in its image and reputation – cracks that may be impossible to repair for decades to come.

Be it leisure or corporate travel, domestic or inbound, collectively, the UK travel sector has become almost inept at communicating with the various publics it depends on for business, regulation, influencing or supply.

The cancellations, often at very short notice, of flights by airlines, airports and tour operators have seriously undermined the industry’s reputation as a professional, proficient and customer-focused one.

Stories of travel woe fill the media daily: of consumers receiving texts at 2am saying their departure later that day for a week in the sun has suddenly been cancelled; or of scenes of several hours’ wait for luggage at UK airports, slow check-ins and warnings that summer holidays will be severely disrupted.

But these stories are not just in the media. Friends, colleagues and neighbours tell me of short-notice cancellations and long waits at airports. I myself have had one business trip, to Berlin in September, cancelled and rescheduled twice by the airline I’m flying with, throwing my plans into chaos.

Blame game

Travel leaders appear on TV and radio and are quoted in newspapers blaming the government or other parts of the supply chain. There is little doubt that the government is at fault for some of it, as indeed are other parts of the supply chain.

But the problem for the industry is the public doesn’t do nuances when it comes to narratives. People haven’t the time or inclination to work out what is the government’s fault and what is down to mismanagement by airlines and tour operators. When someone cannot get through to an airline or an operator’s customer service centre on the phone for hours, they don’t blame the government, they blame the airline or operator’s management.

We can all remember how at the start of the year industry leaders were talking about the rush for the world to go on holiday after two years of lockdowns. Agents and operators filled the media with tales of record bookings for the summer. In the eyes of the public, given these industry leaders’ predictions, the travel and aviation sector shouldn’t have been caught on the hop.

Negative perceptions

The travel sector is rapidly acquiring a negative reputation – and one that may take a long while to repair. So how did this happen? And what can the sector do about it?

For me, the root of the self-inflicted damage to the industry’s reputation can be traced to the start of the pandemic. I remember receiving a stream of emails from senior PR and communications colleagues writing to say they were being “let go” by operators, airlines and cruise lines. At a time when communication from a brand would be paramount, some excellent travel PR and marketing people were being ushered out the door.

In a service-based industry such as travel, disruption is a common thing that the sector historically has been good at managing. The difference now is that it has become inept at communications. There is a distinct lack of senior PR people with experience to ensure the communication is well-thought-through, joined-up, strategic and conscious of the effect of blaming others and how that might look for the brand and the wider industry.

If the travel sector doesn’t put communications and PR at the forefront of its management approach, I fear that a poor reputation and image will hang around its neck like an albatross for years to come.