Thanks to Abta and the Save Future Travel Coalition, says Responsible Travel co-founder Justin Francis
Abta chief executive Mark Tanzer described “the wolves” as being at “are at the door” of travel agents and tour operators when he addressed the Abta Travel Matters conference last week.
His words were intended as a warning for Government but would have resonated emotionally with many of us in the industry.
I would like to say thank you to Mark and everyone at Abta for their tireless efforts on behalf on the industry. I would also like to thank the Save Future Travel Coalition; those representing the industry on the ‘day of action’; John Holland Kaye at Heathrow and many, many others who have lobbied and worked with the government.
Thank you also to Travel Weekly and other trade titles and journalists who have worked so hard to keep us all updated with the ever changing situation and created room for debate and discussion.
Inevitably there will be different views on what those representing or reporting on the trade have said or done, but it has been an immensely complex and gruelling journey for them – and don’t forget for their organisations – too.
Of course, there are tens of hundreds of millions of people in tourism who have no trade representatives here.
I’m thinking of the single mother or father with a hotel job in a part of Southern Europe with 25% unemployment, the taxi driver in Egypt who relies on tourism to fund their kids through school, or the hard up local farmer delivering food to restaurants visited by tourists.
I can’t speak on their behalf, but we think of them often and like others in the industry hear news through our suppliers who work hard to support local communities and nature.
Hard as we’ve all found it, many of these people have fewer advantages and are more vulnerable than us. They would amplify all of your voices advocating an urgent and sensibly managed return to travel.
If they could, even Mark Tanzer’s wolves might howl in support on the basis that some of Responsible Travel’s trips support wolf conservation.
It can be easy to forget that tourism is the most precious and joyful industry on earth. At its best tourism creates the relationships and experiences that bring the world together.
That is something to be proud of and for all of us to keep fighting for.