December/January news

I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year’s.  It was a bit messy in the UK but far better than last year, so we must be happy with that at least.

Everything seemed to be coming back together again and ready for a great year of travel and then we got the fresh new super-Covid.  The good news is clearly that Omicron is far weaker than previous Covid incarnations, so the vast majority of people are suffering nothing more than cold symptoms if any, but it is spreading at a huge rate.  So far, I have not had it and I am triple jabbed, so I feel some confidence in either not getting it or only having mild symptoms.

Most people I know have now had Covid at least once but generally the symptoms have been mild.  The biggest issue at present is that so many people are isolating which is damaging supply chains, transportation, and the economy.  Yesterday there were 13 new cases in NZ, I am sure we are at that level in our street/block!

Consumers are desperate to get out of the UK, Scandi and Europe for holidays but the NZ/Australia option looks to be a distant hope still.  Flights to Europe are already selling out for school holidays and stay-cations are also growing in demand.  Newspapers have run articles on the ‘Holiday stampede’ after restrictions have been eased but Omicron has slowed things due to a lack of certainty/confidence on rules and a lack of staff due to so many people isolating.

Good news for travel agents is that customers are moving away from direct bookings and into travel agents to avoid issues with multiple on-line purchases and cancellation issues, packages via a travel agent are the way forward for safety/control!

keith@tailormaderepresentation.com or phone +44 77699 71217

Keith Marsh

Tailor Made Representation – Helping you connect.