The online travel agency said it was “too early” to determine what impact Omicron would have on travel restrictions and consumer demand and insisted it had plans in place to deal with any impact on the business.
Chief executive Simon Cooper told TTG: “Omicron broke about two weeks ago. We sat down as a senior team and we all agreed that we may as well all move back to working from home.
“There’s not much point in crystal ball gazing beyond the next two to four weeks because let’s be honest, we don’t know.
“I think what they already suspected about the variant was that it was [more] transmissible. What they don’t yet know is how much damage it causes to those who have been vaccinated.”
On the Beach, which decided not to sell holidays departing in July and August 2021 because of the UK’s Covid travel rules, saw its revenue slump by 37% year-on-year to £21.2 million for the year ending on 30 September 2021.
The company made a group loss of £36.7 million in 2020/21, which was an improvement on a loss of £46.3 million in the previous year when the pandemic first took hold in spring 2020.
On the Beach estimated that it had lost £10 million due to Covid-related cancellations and expenses during the last financial year.
“The disruption caused by Covid-19 has lasted longer than anyone would have anticipated and the travel industry has been, and continues to be, one of the hardest hit," added Cooper.
“While our trading performance has clearly suffered, our successful placing this year is testament to the support from our shareholders who see the long-term value of On the Beach and it ensures we are well positioned as the market starts to normalise.”
The company shored up its finances earlier this year with a placing of shares securing £24.9 million in new funding in July.
“The shape of recovery for the sector remains uncertain due to the continued Covid-19 evolution and subsequent governmental responses,” added Cooper.
“The flexible, asset light nature of our business model and use of our ring-fenced trust account, alongside the work the team has done over the last year, means we are ready for 2022.”
On the Beach’s subsidiary Classic Collection Holidays saw its revenue fall 62% year-on-year from £16.9 million in 2020 to £6.5 million this year, while its operating loss widened from £3.2 million to £4.8 million over the same period.
Classic Package Holidays (CPH), an online B2B platform allowing high street agents to sell dynamically packaged holidays, saw revenue grow from £800,000 in 2020 to £1.7 million in 2021.
“The brand was created in 2019, and despite the pandemic, has continued to make significant strategic progress,” said On the Beach in its financial report.
“CPH product is now available in 2,500 high street travel agents and around 3,500 hotels are now available across both short and long-haul destinations. At the year-end, forward orders were more than double what they were as at 30 September 2019 and represented holidays with a total sales value of £9.5 million.”
