Covid and travel discussion

[Maccblue]

These extra rule changes - on top of the changes announced a week or so before - are a ballache for sure but I’m not sure the government (as much as I dislike this lot in charge) are doing it deliberately to cause havoc. SAGE were the ones pushing for pre-departure tests before flying home and it seems they’ve acted on that. Also, remember that last week Sturgeon and her Welsh counterpart were wanting even more prohibitive measures than that in the form of a lengthy quarantine period upon arriving home.

Anyway, I landed in Tenerife at lunchtime today and despite all the uncertainty it was a breeze coming through security. Passport shown and then another line of people beyond that scanning our QR codes relating to our Spanish passenger locator forms. Sorted in no time.

How’s the weather? Off to Lanza next Saturday and having a packing dilemma !!
Well she is !!

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

It's the timing of these announcements that really grinds my gears.

Whilst there isn't really a 'good' time to continually drop these bombshells, some times/days are better than others.

On Saturday, they released the news at 18.30.
The FCO was ready changed so it wasn't a spur of the moment call, they knew they were going to do it.
Why not do the announcement earlier in the day, in the morning?
For people like myself who run and work in high street agencies, this at least would give us all Saturday to contact impacted customers and people travelling soon.
I didn't work Saturday but my 2 colleagues who did told me it was dead all day.
Had the Government done the announcement at, say, 10am, my colleagues could have spent the rest of the day sorting all the shit out.

Instead they do it out of normal hours on Saturday evening, with very few travel businesses open on a Sunday, meaning we have to pick up the mounting slack on Monday morning.

I appreciate the above is from a purely selfish perspective of making my life easier haha but everyone in travel is just drained by these pricks in charge.

It was only a few days ago that the transport minister, Grant Shapps, ruled out the return of pre-departure testing.

Shapps rules out pre-arrival tests as new curbs risk ‘killing off’ travel sector | Travel Weekly

Vaccine passports ‘to become the norm’, according to transport secretary

travelweekly.co.uk

What is business like overall FTG27? I get the feeling from talking to people in my work (60/80 age group mainly) that there is still a lot of hesitancy around (Many are still only going to the shops once a week) and holidays abroad are definitely not on their must do anytime soon list currently. Most parents of younger kids also skipped it this year too. What have business levels been like compared to 2019 and 2020?

 

[feedthegoat27]

What is business like overall FTG27? I get the feeling from talking to people in my work (60/80 age group mainly) that there is still a lot of hesitancy around (Many are still only going to the shops once a week) and holidays abroad are definitely not on their must do anytime soon list currently. Most parents of younger kids also skipped it this year too. What have business levels been like compared to 2019 and 2020?

Recent business had improved until a fortnight or so ago.
October was busy enough (relatively speaking) as people took advantage of the relaxed rules and deals to various Med destinations before they shut down for the winter.
November was a decent month as well (again, relatively speaking) but the emergence of Omicron coupled with the Gov tightening up the UK arrival processes now means December will be a total washout unfortunately.

December is often a quiet month anyway in the travel calendar, for obvious reasons, but January/February is traditionally our peak trading months, so the next couple of weeks as the world tries to figure out Omicron is likely to make or break the first quarter of 2022 for the travel industry.

Consumer confidence has once again been shattered with the recent changes, and as you allude to half the battle is getting people confident enough to commit to a holiday. Particularly the older generations as they aren't generally as tech savvy and a lot of stuff revolves around apps and completing forms on phones etc.
Trying to explain to an already travel nervous pensioner that they need to do X, Y and Z on their phone when out in resort isn't fun and I often find myself talking older people out of booking something because it's the right thing to do.

In terms of how business compares to 2019 and the pre-Covid 'glory days', it is so far away from that it's frightening.
I don't wanna say we'll never get back to those kinds of levels, but it feels like an impossibility right now.
The days when you could jump on a plane and go almost anywhere without a care in the world feel like a lifetime ago. It was only February 2020 when I went to/from the Philippines and I didn't need any forms/tests/apps etc....now you can't even go to Spain and come back without signing your life away.

I think the aviation industry are generally predicting 2024 as the ''return'', though what will remain of the overall travel industry by then is anyone's guess.
I probably come across as a right moaning twat in here sometimes but travel has been the hardest hit industry, there's no real end in sight for us and anytime a new variant or risk might rear it's head then travel is the first sector to face the brunt of it.

But....people will always want holidays.
The demand will be absolutely huge when things finally get better.
For businesses like the company I work for, the plan will be nothing more complex than hanging in there until the good times return again and riding that wave for all its worth.
Unfortunately there will be more casualties along the way, and if Omicron is bad it's going to be a long, long cashless winter for many travel businesses (and no Gov help forthcoming)

 

[blue b4 the moon]

Took ages to fill in all the forms tonight for our return to the UK tomorrow.

We're both pretty good with forms & technology having both worked in employment in and around those fields.....I'd not fancy 80 year old Bert & Doris being able to get their heads around it all.

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

Recent business had improved until a fortnight or so ago.
October was busy enough (relatively speaking) as people took advantage of the relaxed rules and deals to various Med destinations before they shut down for the winter.
November was a decent month as well (again, relatively speaking) but the emergence of Omicron coupled with the Gov tightening up the UK arrival processes now means December will be a total washout unfortunately.

December is often a quiet month anyway in the travel calendar, for obvious reasons, but January/February is traditionally our peak trading months, so the next couple of weeks as the world tries to figure out Omicron is likely to make or break the first quarter of 2022 for the travel industry.

Consumer confidence has once again been shattered with the recent changes, and as you allude to half the battle is getting people confident enough to commit to a holiday. Particularly the older generations as they aren't generally as tech savvy and a lot of stuff revolves around apps and completing forms on phones etc.
Trying to explain to an already travel nervous pensioner that they need to do X, Y and Z on their phone when out in resort isn't fun and I often find myself talking older people out of booking something because it's the right thing to do.

In terms of how business compares to 2019 and the pre-Covid 'glory days', it is so far away from that it's frightening.
I don't wanna say we'll never get back to those kinds of levels, but it feels like an impossibility right now.
The days when you could jump on a plane and go almost anywhere without a care in the world feel like a lifetime ago. It was only February 2020 when I went to/from the Philippines and I didn't need any forms/tests/apps etc....now you can't even go to Spain and come back without signing your life away.

I think the aviation industry are generally predicting 2024 as the ''return'', though what will remain of the overall travel industry by then is anyone's guess.
I probably come across as a right moaning twat in here sometimes but travel has been the hardest hit industry, there's no real end in sight for us and anytime a new variant or risk might rear it's head then travel is the first sector to face the brunt of it.

But....people will always want holidays.
The demand will be absolutely huge when things finally get better.
For businesses like the company I work for, the plan will be nothing more complex than hanging in there until the good times return again and riding that wave for all its worth.
Unfortunately there will be more casualties along the way, and if Omicron is bad it's going to be a long, long cashless winter for many travel businesses (and no Gov help forthcoming)

Thanks for the reply. A real insight. Must be very tough. I’m amazed companies have survived to be honest. Didn’t Hays buy a load of shops off TC a year or so before?

Hope it gets better for you soon and before 2024!

 

[paulchapo]

It's the timing of these announcements that really grinds my gears.

Whilst there isn't really a 'good' time to continually drop these bombshells, some times/days are better than others.

On Saturday, they released the news at 18.30.
The FCO was ready changed so it wasn't a spur of the moment call, they knew they were going to do it.
Why not do the announcement earlier in the day, in the morning?
For people like myself who run and work in high street agencies, this at least would give us all Saturday to contact impacted customers and people travelling soon.
I didn't work Saturday but my 2 colleagues who did told me it was dead all day.
Had the Government done the announcement at, say, 10am, my colleagues could have spent the rest of the day sorting all the shit out.

Instead they do it out of normal hours on Saturday evening, with very few travel businesses open on a Sunday, meaning we have to pick up the mounting slack on Monday morning.

I appreciate the above is from a purely selfish perspective of making my life easier haha but everyone in travel is just drained by these pricks in charge.

It was only a few days ago that the transport minister, Grant Shapps, ruled out the return of pre-departure testing.

Shapps rules out pre-arrival tests as new curbs risk ‘killing off’ travel sector | Travel Weekly

Vaccine passports ‘to become the norm’, according to transport secretary

travelweekly.co.uk

My company used to do this with big announcements for the ships. We all lived onboard Wednesday until Wednesday. The office would ping the e mails out just before 5pm then fuck off home for the weekend. Everyone affected would be in uproar but nobody was available until Monday, by which time things had calmed down. Wankers

 

[feedthegoat27]

Thanks for the reply. A real insight. Must be very tough. I’m amazed companies have survived to be honest. Didn’t Hays buy a load of shops off TC a year or so before?

Hope it gets better for you soon and before 2024!

Hays did indeed do a job lot on the whole Thomas Cook rental portfolio and ended up taking over something like 550 branches.
In public, Hays maintain the stance that they have no regrets, but privately they will be kicking themselves and with the benefit of hindsight they never would've done what they did. Little did anyone know that the world would collapse just a few months after the acquisitions, so I definitely have some sympathy for them.

(and good job Thomas Cook weren't bailed out as Covid would have seen them off again straight away)

Appreciate the kind words and apologies for the ramble; I guess I could've been a bit more succinct by just replying that business is shit haha but thought it was worth a more in depth reply.

Cashflow is a real issue in the industry and a combination of winter, half the world basically closed for tourism and the tightening on entry requirements back into the UK will likely be a bridge too far for those businesses already close to the brink. It'll get worse before it gets better.

 

[The Colonel]

ok say you take a LFD test and it’s negative more than 2 days before you depart. How does anyone know when it was actually taken or by whom?

 

[Blue.Roys.Son]

How’s the weather? Off to Lanza next Saturday and having a packing dilemma !!
Well she is !!

Weather has been great last 2 weeks, just needs jacket for the evenings as it gets a bit chilly

About 21 to 23 every day so far.

 

[paulchapo]

ok say you take a LFD test and it’s negative more than 2 days before you depart. How does anyone know when it was actually taken or by whom?

If you take it abroad you have to do it in a center and show your passport. Not sure if you can order and take one with you to do yourself as an alternative. They were about 40 Euro in Tenerife I believe and £18.99 to order online here. I'm not back until 20th January so anything could have happened by then so I'll have to wait and see.