End of furlough leaves travel 'hanging in the balance'
Sophie Griffiths & 
Will Payne"It’s a sleepless nights thing,” says Lee Hunt, managing director of Suffolk-based Deben Travel, the overall winner of last year’s TTG Top 50 Travel Agencies.
Like many others, Hunt has been bracing himself – and his business – for September. This month marks a triple blow for those working in travel: the Atol deadline looms large; creditors are calling in debts; and perhaps most crucially, the furlough scheme – a lifeline for thousands of businesses over the last 15 months – is set to end on 30 September.
It is the latter that’s keeping Hunt awake at night. “It’s definitely a worry, that’s for sure,” he sighs, his thoughts trained on his loyal team. “They’re not just staff members, they’re people I’ve known for years and who I class as friends.”
The tragedy is that these words could be spoken by any number of travel business owners across the UK. Last month, business rescue specialist Begbies Traynor announced the industry was on “the edge of a storm".
It found 4,908 travel and tourism businesses were “significantly distressed” in the second half of 2021, a 26% increase on the same period last year. Among these, 1,580 were classed as travel agencies or other reservations services, and 805 as tour operators.
“We need the government to urgently look at sector-specific support for the travel industry,” demands Gary Lewis, chief executive of the Travel Network Group.
“Furlough was a lifeline for travel during the pandemic, but now the sector’s fate hangs in the balance. Until people are travelling close to pre-2020 levels again, without ongoing support, redundancies are a real threat to those working in the sector – and the cost of those redundancies could also be the final straw for many travel businesses.”
Kelly Cookes, leisure director for Advantage Travel Partnership, agrees. “Travel agents have been fighting to keep their heads above water, with little to no revenue coming through the door," she says. "Yet they are still having to work gruelling hours to manage cancellations, rebookings and refunds, navigating the ongoing travel changes with no sector-specific financial support.
“Our members’ biggest concern is furlough coming to an end. Despite booking volumes slowly increasing, they are nowhere near 2019 levels and this isn’t sustainable. Employers want to protect their teams and retain skills, but sadly the end of furlough will lead to a lot of job losses.”
What you can do to #SaveTravelJobs
- Head to savetravel.co.uk to read TTG’s #SaveTravelJobs letter to Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak
- Add your signature and find out how to quickly and easily email the message to your local MP(s)
Even those agents not reliant on furlough themselves are alarmed about the broader repercussions of the scheme ending. “It’s absolutely gutting,” says Rob Kenton, managing director of Triangle Travel.
“I have friends in the industry who are struggling, and we’ve lost some massive names on the high street. What frustrates me most is when you look at hospitality, they’ve been getting double the grants and they deserve it because they’ve had hard times, but we’ve had equally hard times, if not greater.
"When the pubs opened up again they had queues out the door, but they didn’t have to refund anything like we did.”
Phil Nuttall, managing director of the Travel Village Group, agrees, insisting that while his business is OK, the end of furlough will have serious consequences for a lot of the industry.
“It will devastate retail travel,” he says. “And it will change the landscape. Until we get into full recovery mode next year, it’s going to be very, very tricky – companies will have to adopt different opening hours and different strategies.”
There are other concerns too, such as the loss of talent the industry could face. Kristina Wallen, founder of recruitment firm Harp Wallen, says the recruitment market “is like no other I have experienced since setting up Harp Wallen in 1995”, with applications at an “all time low”.
She acknowledges furlough has been a “saviour” for many businesses, but admits it has “taken its toll on excellent working professionals”. “They want to be working full time in an industry they are passionate about and have dedicated large chunks of their lives and careers to,” she says.
“While they await their fate come the end of September, they are assessing whether they can stay in the industry they have contributed so much to,” Wallen adds. “They are looking for new roles because many cannot see how they will find positions in their previous workplaces if the continued chop and change to travel regulations continues and there is not some further sector-specific support.”
It’s a fear that Hunt shares. “My greatest worry is that we’re going to lose a huge amount of talent, experience and expertise from our industry,” he says sadly.
“That has a huge long-term effect – people come into travel agencies for their expertise, their advice and their knowledge of travel. That’s our main selling point versus online. If that’s not there – that personal knowledge and expertise – why would you come to a travel agent?
“It makes me so angry. It’s just another example of the government not understanding the travel industry,” Hunt sighs. “I’m worried the industry will never recover.”
TTG's #SaveTravelJobs message to government
Last month, TTG Media launched the next stage of its #SaveTravel campaign by calling on the government to step up and #SaveTravelJobs. In a letter addressed to prime minister Boris Johnson and chancellor Rishi Sunak, we are demanding three things:
- That the government provides furlough support beyond 30 September until at least April 2022;
- That it introduces dedicated financial support for this industry, including 100% business rates relief for the full financial year, as well as a dedicated grant scheme; and
- That MPs and ministers use their positions to publicly voice support for the travel industry – especially travel agents – to restore confidence in this sector, in the same way they spoke up for restaurateurs when the government launched the Eat Out to Help Out scheme this time last year.
Find out more and add your name at savetravel.co.uk.
Sophie Griffiths
Sign up for weekday travel news and analysis straight to your inbox
Recommended For You
Latest travel jobs
Senior Sales Consultant
Branch Manager
Sales & Marketing Manager - UK, Ireland, Scandinavia & North America
Competitions
TTG Luxury Journey
Place of registration: England and Wales.
Company number 08723341.
Registered address: 6th Floor, 2 London Wall Place, London EC2Y 5AU
