Chris Lee: 'It’s time for travel to get back to normal'

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Lee: 'Clarity can’t come soon enough.'

Sharelines

Many times, customers have said something along the lines of “if only we could look forward to January like we used to”; the year used to get off to a flying start with a traditionally strong month for advance holiday bookings, fuelled by high consumer confidence. It was an annual opportunity to relish.

However, for many, this has been a shadow of its former self in recent years. As far as the travel customers I talk to are concerned, clarity can’t come soon enough as it would give them, for the first time in at least three years, the certainty they need to plan ahead and make January a month for travel companies to really look forward to.

Certainly other major challenges remain, not least the ever-increasing scrutiny on the travel, aviation and cruise industries in terms of how they attempt to mitigate the effects of climate change and promote responsible and sustainable tourism.

This will continue to affect thinking not only in leisure travel but also for TMCs and what the changing demands of corporate travellers will mean for them.

Obviously, there are winners and losers in all areas, but strong-performing sub-sectors among our travel clients include luxury; activity and adventure; niche; and experiential holidays, where it is easy to see further consolidation and M&A activity during 2020 if we have a more certain political and economic environment.

The after-effects of the demise of Thomas Cook will still be there for a while, not least in terms of the perceptions of the travel industry, including for some lenders and credit card companies.

Those who are more informed, however, should be able to grasp the huge divergence there is in terms of different travel industry business models while avoiding a blanket approach, so promising, successful and well-managed travel businesses can move forward with confidence in 2020.