'After all the hard work, this is our time to shine'
Tony MannSpeaking to TTG, Idle Travel’s Tony Mann reflects on the half-term rush ’rolling back the years’ after having clients queuing out of his door for the first time in years.
We have a fair amount booked for February half-term. The big issue is children over 12 and vaccination. We’re asking anyone coming in for their vaccination status. We’ve already had people swap or move their holidays because of the age of their children.
February half-term will be temperamental because of the vaccinations. We’re not shying away from marketing it, but we are making people aware. We don’t want to get into a situation where we’re having to make lots of changes. We feel that soon, fully vaccinated will include the booster, so that’s what we’re telling people to be ready for.
I think Easter will be better. Some countries like Spain, our top seller, may change their guidance by then. Otherwise, people will have to realise that if they want to travel abroad, their children will have to be vaccinated.
Sales are looking unbelievably good for summer. We were already well sold from moves and switches, and we had a great August to November last year – November was crackers, comparable with a good month in summer 2019, it was that busy.
We’ve marketed throughout, and things keep getting busier. We’ve got people queuing on Saturdays, we’re having to marshal them. It was so lovely to roll back the years and have the queues!
Cruise has picked up too, everything seems to be selling at the moment. We’re having lots of younger people coming to us too, a good mix of ages and destinations. Looking at our figures for January, we’ll probably beat what we did in January 2020. In fact, I think we’ll beat that by the end of the week [week beginning 24 January].
The worth of travel agents has never been so high. The publicity we’ve got, I couldn’t afford. After all that hard work over the years, this is our time to shine.
Tony Mann is director of Bradford-based Idle Travel.
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