There is a light that never goes out

2020 will be known as the year global travel ground to a halt. An event, not just the travel industry, but indeed the world to a greater extent has never experienced in its history. In order to come to a solution on the effect, we need to find the root cause. As with all illness, prevention is better than cure, and short-term pain is required to ensure long-term gain. Do we know for sure exactly what happened in Wuhan, and why? Can we prevent something of this magnitude from happening again? This is a serious wake-up call for all.

This is going to be an extremely difficult year for everyone in the hospitality, travel and tourism industries. Make no mistake, it will be late summer until we see the green shoots of recovery, and even by that stage, with so many of the world’s population out of work and on basic pay, there will be very little disposable income to play with. And as we all know, any discretionary spend on travel will be virtually non-existent. The same family budget restrictions might also apply and trickle down to life’s little luxuries like eating out, attending shows, visiting attractions, sports events and so on.

I like to always consider myself as optimist, but this cataclysmic event is on another level entirely and is like watching a surreal disaster movie play out in real time right in front of your eyes. The pace of the rate of change in terms of a domino effect has been nothing short of dramatic, and the house of cards has fallen (for now). In order to spur confidence in the travel industry, especially cruise and airline industry, deep discounting will be essential. That will, in turn reduce commission levels overall, but will be essential in order to activate consumer confidence – price point will always play a big role in the deciding factor when it comes to consumer behavior, especially on impulse purchasing.

Taking solace from the title from The Smiths song, ‘there is a light that never goes out’ is apt for a very resilient, yet quite fragile industry. Take aviation for example, they say in order to make a small fortune in aviation, you have to start out with a large one. Although, some airlines such as Delta, Ryanair and I.A.G. group have substantial cash reserves to weather the covid-19 crisis for quite some time. Without airlines, there would be no inbound foot-flow into the destinations, plain and simple. The airline industry, simply put, is the backbone of the travel industry. The cruise industry joins the dots around the islands and coastlines and is therefore instrumental in offering her passengers and guests a taste of each particular destination of the ship’s visit. And in doing so, (tourism boards will hope they will enjoy so much so), shall return again independently to explore the country or island increasing future dwell time as a result. Hotels have also been decimated, weddings, meetings, conferences and events have been hit hard. The M.I.C.E. industry has fallen off a cliff – so sad.     

As a result of covid-19, there will no doubt be causalities. We are indeed one of the lucky ones and Fly Cruise Stay (Fly High Pay Low) ? will not, thankfully be one of them. Our unique business model is galvanized and will be much stronger as a result when the industry picks up again. I pray our preferred partners and key suppliers will find the resolve to see out the crisis as we are one big happy family here at Fly Cruise Stay. Loyalty is paramount in business, and our relationships have never been stronger. They say the biggest blue-chip companies were built during recessionary times and a recession might indeed lurk around the corner if covid-19 does not pass sooner than later. I believe it will pass, just like it did in China and South Korea, just not as fast, due in part to the western world not complying to government orders to stay indoors and keep social distancing, washing hands frequently and such.

One possible positive scenario in all of this mayhem? Mother Nature gets to catch her breath and take a most needed rest. Although massive strides continue to be made in terms of sustainable and responsible travel and tourism initiatives. Under our thread lightly policy we take shared public transport when on the road and encourage our valued portfolio of clients to, try and taste the local food and drink, buy local, a souvenir perhaps made by a local artisan and not something on the back with a sticker made in China, unless of course their in China.

In closing, I would like to wish the reader a speedy and safe recovery, and take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks and acknowledge our healthcare and emergency services who are risking their own lives and working harder than the entire travel and tourism industry right now. For the day that's in it, and in the true spirit of the fighting Irish - Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Declan Hughes is Director of www.FlyCruiseStay.com