The travel industry is suffering from the onset of the coronavirus and the travel guides that have been tightened by Friday afternoon.
Should the travel agencies manage through the coming time, it requires proper help, or that some of the companies may be allowed to go to sleep for a few months.
This is the opinion of Lars Thykier, CEO of the Danish Travel Agency Association.
– In the coming time, quite a few people will travel from Denmark. We are already down, and with the new rules, we are down and our sales are gone.
– The only thing to do now is to give real and full support to those who in reality no longer have any turnover, he says.
The announcement comes after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday afternoon tightened its travel guide to the whole world. It is colored red, which means that all travel – including business travel – is not recommended for the whole world until 17 January.
Michael Svane is industry director in Danish Industry, and he calls the change “a significant tightening”.
– The significant tightening of travel restrictions, in addition to aviation, also affects the travel industry and the entire experience economist, he says to Finans.
In general, 2020 has been a tough year for the travel industry, and many of the travel agencies were already struggling with a sharp decline in turnover ahead of the stricter guidelines.
According to Lars Thykier, for several companies it has fallen to 5-10 percent of normal.
Some business trips have been left behind, just as trips have also been booked for the winter holidays. Trips that Lars Thykier suspects will be canceled now.
The latest tightening, according to him, leads to forced closure of travel agencies.
He believes that a solution should be made where the agencies that want can go to sleep while others can stay open with support.
– There are some who want to go to sleep, ie shut down completely. There are also some agencies that will say that they need to service customers because they do not expect to be able to sell some trips right away, but they would like to be able to pick up the phone.
– That possibility simply does not exist. You must either have a total shutdown for an entire industry or also be open with the limitations it gives with the help packages, says Lars Thykier.
He emphasizes that there is a big difference between the travel agencies. Some offer primarily travel in the EU, and they expect, according to the director, to be able to reopen faster than those that have destinations in South America, Asia or Australia.
According to Lars Thykier, help is needed now if travel agencies are to survive to be able to sell travel again in 3, 6 or 12 months.
Source: The Nordic Page