Aspire Travel to be featured on ITV News about Middle East crisis response

A travel agency is hopeful that its upcoming appearance on ITV News will allow it to highlight how agents respond during a crisis to a national audience.

Aspire Travel in Cambridge will feature on the ITV News bulletin from 6pm tonight (March 6) after a reporter for the channel visited the shop this morning.

The segment will feature a conversation between agents Amy Richardson and Libby Tucker, who is currently stranded in the UAE awaiting a flight home, over video link as well as a separate interview with Richardson on how the agency has supported its clients as the situation has unfolded.

Richardson, who was also interviewed by Heart Radio earlier this week, told Travel Weekly she wants to use the opportunity to demonstrate why people should book their travel through a trusted professional.

“Travel agents have almost become a bit niche in recent years with the rise of online travel agencies, so it’s great having these opportunities to showcase what we do best to a wider audience,” she added.

“We really do have to drop everything with our own family lives and everything else in such circumstances, which I don’t think some people realise.”

Richardson said she has been in contact with Tucker on a daily basis to ensure she “doesn’t feel forgotten about” ahead of her return to the UK.

Tucker is scheduled to return home on March 9, but Richardson said she has been booked on four flights which have all been cancelled.

“It’s scary for her but the good thing is she’s in the best possible place and the hotel [she is staying at] are being amazing,” said Richardson.

“It’s just a case of waiting until she can get on a flight back home.”