How Are Travel Agencies Coping During The Pandemic?
Six months into the pandemic, Travel Courier chats with TPI, TravelOnly, Flight Centre Travel Group and Nexion Canada to get an update on the state of the industry for travel agencies and what recovery looks like.
Travel Professionals International is seeing bookings pick up for travel in late 2021 and 2022.
“Our year-over-year sales are up are by 17% and our advanced bookings for travel in 2021 and 2022 are up by 43% versus the same time last year, which is quite interesting given 2019 was our best year at TPI so far,” Zeina Gedeon, the CEO of TPI, tells Travel Courier. “For 2020, we are seeing booking for within Canada in the last couple of months.”
Since early March, the independent host agency has had over 75 advisors come on board, which Gedeon points out is, “a record number for new advisors joining us and we continue to see steady enquiries come in every week.”
Although a complete rebound for the travel industry is difficult to predict given the unknown and uncontrollable factors, she says bookings are improving.
“With many of our supplier partners offering COVID-19 insurance, we have seen a spike in bookings to the Caribbean,” Gedeon says. “For within Canada, these bookings have been coming in steadily.”
