Postpone your holiday, don’t cancel - it could assist in saving the ailing travel industry

“The telephone only rings for those wanting to reschedule or cancel journeys. There is absolutely no new business to arrive, and guests aren't paying for already scheduled trips,” notes Matt Holmes, founder of Boundless Journeys.

Having experienced business for a lot more than 25 years, Holmes’ adventure travel company is facing its toughest ever test in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. “We will be affected for years, and we aren't expecting that persons will be travelling for at least a couple of months,” he says. “We are longing for the best, but finding your way through the worst.”

International travel bans

To date, more than two billion persons - approximately 25 % of the world’s population - have already been asked or ordered to stay at home. That number keeps growing every day, without less than 50 countries, at the last count, having suspended all incoming and outgoing passenger flights.

The UAE is one particular country, having halted all flights on March 24. For Robin Kamark, chief commercial officer at Etihad Airways, this signifies a changed world. “It’s a thing that I’ve never experienced before. There is nothing that's normal in this situation,” he says.

Not the first, but the worst

This is simply not the first crisis to batter the travel industry. “We experienced 9/11 and the monetary downturn of 2008,” says Mar Naibi folks tour operator Pure Adventures. “But that is much different, much worse, as the complete world is influenced - it’s on an totally different level. During 9/11, people were scared for some time and they decided enough was enough, they wanted travel back in their lives. In 2008, only a particular percentage of the population were affected, numerous others still had money to visit. Now, companies are closing daily, persons can’t leave their homes.”

Travel goals

For people moving into lockdown, thoughts of summertime road trips or scuba-diving holidays are understandably not high on the agenda. With worldwide uncertainty regarding travel, it’s tempting to to get the telephone and cancel any plans, vowing to remake them again when it's high time.

But that’s accurately what the travel and tourism industry is urging people never to do. The hashtag #postponedontcancel is already doing the rounds on social media, as tour operators, travel companies, destinations and travellers make use of it alongside pictures of previous adventures.

More than 10 % of the world’s population works in travel and several of these persons have lost their jobs or their businesses overnight. The crisis has affected everyone from major hotel groups and airlines to local guides, mountain sherpas and housekeeping staff.

“Consider your favourite safari guide in Botswana. The Tour du Mont Blanc guide that released the stunning picnic spread saturated in the Alps. Your Bhutanese guide that was so proud to introduce you to his country. The Peruvian guide that helped you understand the mysteries of the ancient Incas. Most of these people and their families will be damaged and hurt by the financial fallout from Covid-19,” says Holmes.

Saturated in the Peruvian Andes of Cusco, Mark Smith has been owning a family-orientated tour agency called Amazonas Explorer for three decades. The business, like most in your community, operates on a seasonal basis. “The growing season in Peru ends at Christmas and starts again in March, so that it simply didn't start this season. All bookings have stopped,” says Smith warily.

Patience is a virtue

For many travellers, seeing the world is intrinsic with their well-being, so travel will never be fully off the agenda. But our decisions in the short-term could have far-reaching consequences. Edinburgh resident Kathrin Dougal, a busy working mother of three, recently made a decision to postpone her family’s upcoming visit to Northern Ireland.

“We are living in an unprecedented situation that nobody is to be blamed for and if postponing means that I can help another person keep going, i quickly think it’s important never to pull the plug, as long as I’m in a budget to take action,” says Dougal. “Plus, this means we have a family group holiday to anticipate when this is around,” she adds.

The professionals of postponing

According to a report in the journal of Applied Research in Quality of Life, planning or anticipating holidays could make you merely as happy as taking them. And for Brittany Hass, founder of US-based boutique adventure travel company Alpen Adventures, having a vacation booked is a welcome distraction in what's otherwise a spectral range of crazy. “In a global where everything seems to be spiralling out of control, there continues to be so much that remains in your control,” she says.

Postponing a trip may also be a lot easier to do at the moment as airlines, hotels and tour operators have introduced flexible booking conditions to combat some of the fallout.

If postponing means that I can help someone else keep going, i quickly think it's important not to pull the plug

- Kathrin Dougal

In Thailand’s Koh Samui, all-villa resort Samujana has introduced a two-year rebooking policy for anybody that had planned to visit. Off the coast of Tanzania at The Residence Zanzibar, there’s an identical rebooking plan in place. “We’ve advised guests with travel plans damaged by the virus outbreak that they might be able to defer their stick with no penalties until March, 2021,” reveals Syed Aftab, director of sales and marketing at the resort.

In the UAE, Emirates and Etihad have joined others around the world in relaxing booking policies. The national airline in addition has introduced a scheme called Etihad Credit to create rebooking simpler. “We have eased up all ticket restrictions; you’re in a position to rebook within a year and - if you’re an Etihad guest or sign up for the programme - you’ll get credit bonuses in the sort of air miles,” explains Kamark.

Travellers who choose to postpone instead of cancel booked holidays might even manage to upgrade their trips. “Most tour operators is going to be ready to offer incentives for postponing, such as for example locking in this year’s price,” offers Hass.

These suggestions is echoed by Karen Slocombe, director of sales and marketing at Samujana. “Instead of cancelling, reschedule and ask for a few extra benefits instead, for instance a free upgrade or a higher season period once you have paid a minimal season rate.”

Travel is definitely as much about the people you meet as the places you go, and the existing pandemic has highlighted how interconnected we all are. “We are social creatures and we'll be that even following the coronavirus. We must interact, we must be social, we are all going right through difficult times, but we will prevail,” says Kamark.

Which explains why there is light towards the end of the pandemic tunnel. “In every seriousness, it’s hard to learn at this point what the traveller psyche will be after we have this behind us. It’s hard to avoid exploring the world if it’s what you truly wish to do,” says Holmes. “I expect there to be a rush on travel when we are back at the main point where everyone feels comfortable getting on a plane and exploring the world again.”

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From his vantage point in Cusco, Mark Smith also suggests that this era of forced pause could serve as a chance for the world to reconsider issues like overtourism, climate change and sustainable travel.

“Look at how nature is now creeping back into certain specific areas, the way the air is cleaner than it had been a month ago and you could see that our approach to life had some big unwanted effects,” he says.

“Hopefully we are able to all utilize this time to realise that how persons were living and doing business was not sustainable.”