2017 Was Not A Great Year In Travel

To say that 2017 has had it’s challenges in the travel industry is an understatement. We’ve had to contend with terrorism, airlines going belly up, hurricanes, Brexit which has increased costs due to poor exchange rates and civil unrest. It’s not surprising that some small travel companies without strong financial backing have had to close their doors and switch off their phones forever.

I have to admit that although I’m not particularly up on politics I did see how Brexit could affect me personally, both in my job as well as a traveller and therefore I voted to stay in the EU. I think if we had the gift of hindsight many other people may have done the same. Whilst abroad my pound doesn’t go anywhere near as far as it used to. I have seen prices of flights and accommodation increase which generally means less people booking and therefore less profit. In the cruise industry many companies have had to differ their pricing and promotions for the UK market to make their offerings attractive. For example NCL have made all their cruises all inclusive, but only for the European market. People who live in the U.S. for example have different promotions.

Hurricanes devastated certain Caribbean Islands and caused uproar for the travel industry as a whole, although more importantly caused death and devastation for the islanders themselves. It was heartening to see cruise lines rallying to help the islands, albeit that there was a vested interest in getting their usual ports back up and running. They have spent a lot of money re-building and rescuing people, but who do you think will pay on the long run? I am guessing that it won’t be the shareholders.

I had a narrow escape when Monarch went bust less than a week after I had returned from one of their holidays.  It was very sad for me as they have been around over 40 years and taken me on many an amazing holiday. Anyone that gets me to the Maldives will do for me – no matter how cramped the seats were! The effect that this had on tour operators and travel agents was huge. When you book an ATOL protected package holiday you not only get the security of knowing you’ll be flown home should your airline fail whilst abroad, but if you haven’t travelled yet then your tour operator will pay for a replacement flight, so this has made a dent in may a companies’ profits.

With my rose-tinted glasses on I look forward to 2018, my 25th year working in the travel industry and hope that there are no disasters -financial, natural or otherwise. And as far as volcanic ash goes…they are two words I never want to hear again!