Advantage Intravel was enjoying one of its best years. And then, the pandemic shut down international borders back in March.
Since then, the bottom has fallen out of the travel industry with virtually all trips cancelled until at least September.
David Shaw has owned Advantage Intravel for 35 years. He said he has never before been faced with a challenge like COVID-19.
“We’ve lost all our destination wedding business, our corporate accounts have travel restrictions … it has had a huge effect on us,” he explained.
Once international borders re-open, Advantage Intravel can resume planning trips outside of the country for clients.
But Shaw foresees a new challenge for the business: finding ways to inspire people to travel again.
“It will be a slow painful process coming out of this, similar to what happened after 9/11, getting people’s confidence again, airlines implementing new guidelines. It may all be a part of the new normal," said Shaw.
Shaw, who hopes there might be some incentives provide to would-be travellers, also believes there will be new government regulations in place for travellers entering a foreign country.
“There’s those issues, pricing issues, airlines have to make decisions on how many flights they reinstate,” Shaw says of some of the challenges people may experience once borders re-open.
Advantage Intravel still has trips booked into October and November. However, with fears of a potential second wave of COVID-19 upon us, Shaw says international travel may not resume for quite awhile.
“I think the light at the end of the tunnel might come possibly next June when a vaccine comes out. That will be our saving grace and allow everyone to return to a new normal,” he said.
Orillia’s Gotta Go Travel TPI owner Corry Ticknor has also felt the economic challenges during the pandemic.
Ticknor was compelled to permanently close her storefront agency on West Street South on May 31. Ticknor is now running her agency from a home office.
“We’ve been taking this time to re-evaluate the business and plan for how we are going to be moving forward in the future,” Ticknor said.
Ticknor believes people anxious to travel may find out when they can book their next getaway in the coming weeks.
“Now that things are opening up locally, time is going to tell in the next four weeks on how things are going to go,” she said.
Ticknor says she is still receiving calls from people who are interested in traveling in the near future. Ticknor herself has a trip booked to Egypt and Jordan this September.
“I think people are itching to go as soon as we are able,” Ticknor said.
Ticknor expects the travel industry to be extremely busy once international borders are re-opened.
“I think … people are going to want to just go and it will be great for the industry,” she said.
She doesn’t think the pandemic will have a big impact on trip prices.
“I think, realistically, all-inclusives and cruises will have the same value as they did before,” said Ticknor.
“(Plane tickets) may go up a bit. There might be fewer people allowed on the planes because of social distancing, which could take a toll on the airlines (so) they may need to increase pricing,” she explained.
