Thanks to the Bill Murray film, the phrase also has another meaning – and it was with a certain irony that after scanning the headlines on Saturday following a week’s holiday in the US, I noted the UK remains in its own political groundhog day.
MPs are still more focused on in-fighting than solving the crisis and, crucially, no one is any the wiser as to what will happen on March 29. The only difference is we are yet another week closer to leaving the EU without a deal, and that, as Abta’s Mark Tanzer stressed to industry figures last week, “is not where we want to be”.
Consumer confidence, he notes, is “fragile”. And as agents tell us this week, that fragility is now being felt in a drop in demand for summer and Easter holidays, and in a change in booking habits.
One agent notes family holidays for Easter this year are down 15% year-on year, with customers opting for UK breaks and spending far less.
Hearteningly though, while politicians are failing to offer reassurance, agents are stepping up and supporting customers who are booking despite worries about what will happen post-March 29.
“Who would have thought we would all become politicians overnight?” our new agent columnist Tony Mann muses this week.
Kilwinning-based Thorne Travel is even proactively easing the fears of worried customers by attending regional events to talk to locals.
These might be small steps, but they can go a long way, especially with politicians failing to deliver.
If you’re wondering – this year’s groundhog did indeed foretell an early end to the winter chill. Here’s hoping that prediction rings true for agents too.
