October news
All sorts of good news this month as Europe starts to return to a new version of normal and countries are opening-up for tourism.
Thailand is opening from 1st November https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-58838189
Fiji is opening from 1st December https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/14/were-ready-fiji-prepares-to-welcome-tourists-almost-two-years-after-closing-borders
The only snags are keeping up to date with rules and the risk of one member of the group/family failing the Covid test before or during the trip. The rules are changing all the time which reduces customer confidence but the demand for travel and holidays is immense.
A good list/summary for UK customers is here https://www.thetimes.co.uk/travel/UK-travel-restrictions-where-can-i-go-on-holiday-abroad
Staff shortages in the UK due to Brexit and Covid 19 continue to disrupt the supply chain of a huge amounts of goods and food with seemingly random things suddenly becoming hard to find. The end of September also brought the end of furlough to the UK. This may help the supply issues as staff return to work or are forced to take a different job replacing staff lost to Brexit/Covid rules.
Vaccination stats are looking good. Denmark is leading with 75% of the population fully vaccinated, UK and most of Europe are close behind at 66%. Australia and New Zealand are gaining, both 50+%. Stats available here: https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus#coronavirus-country-profiles
Australia has come out of the lock down and has reported being open again but so far this is only for Australians to travel. The news is still very much positive and travel for non-citizens will be close behind with NSW leading the way. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-58757888 and https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-15/nsw-to-scrap-quarantine-for-overseas-arrivals/100541348?fbclid=IwAR0KpxnYjJ2E7h0agt9J2KQvpb2q3LeYEwcKsNQ6QEldLu4dERUbpJuLLbE
New Zealand has accepted they can’t stop the Delta variant of Covid so again vaccinations will increase and the border is likely to open late 2021 for citizens and soon after for non-citizens https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10089753/Covid-Australia-New-Zealand-open-Christmas-Jacinda-Ardern-admits-Delta-defeat.html
Trailfinders celebrated their 50th anniversary (they are 51 now but obviously delayed!), congratulations to the whole TF team. The evening event was attended by 500+ people and was a great night, really good to get out and see everyone.
‘Taste of PATA’ was another well attended recent trade event and we are only 2 weeks away from World Travel Market in London as the world gets going again.
In Scandinavia we also have the Kilroy travel festival coming up https://www.kilroy.se/kilroy-travel-festival-program?fbclid=IwAR1tSJLuGzS_VuS6jhj4NzP8H6MOSqP6HcZSwWiCxK1Hysrf7HJ8nOYkcEw
Be ready for the start of the 2022 travel boom!
keith@tailormaderepresentation.com or phone +44 77699 71217
Keith Marsh
Tailor Made Representation – Helping you connect.