John Wales, CTA chairman writes:

“The travel industry has demonstrated an admirable ability to adapt to some of the most severe conditions. These have ranged from natural disasters to attacks by terrorists. The international pandemic of the Coronavirus COVID-19 does however represent the greatest challenge our businesses have had to face for several generations. At the time of writing it would seem that almost all non-essential travel is being closed down.

“My earlier letter to all the members of the Coach Tourism Association recognised that both coach operators and suppliers are now experiencing an immense financial impact, and I urged flexibility and understanding during these extraordinary circumstances so we can mitigate costs and ensure we have strong partnerships going forward.

“I am still getting reports though, of some hotels and tourist suppliers enforcing strict cancellation terms on future bookings of coach operators, even though there is no actual operating cost to them. Operators are currently obliged to refund their clients in 14 days to comply with the Package Travel Directive, which makes it even more astonishing that these generators of business are then ‘fined’ by some corporations, who may not share the real impact on the front line, and which is accelerating the financial disaster most operators are experiencing.

“Unfortunately, right now, as we must wait to see the full impact and timescale, all we can do is control and reduce our costs and plan for a recovery, which we all hope will be in the shorter term.  We must wait and see what government support is pledged to enable the coach operators to survive.  Hopefully the media will show as much enthusiasm on the positives when the pain clears and helps boost tourism – we will be sharing information on the CTA website to assist all members and  planning some PR stories ready for the recovery and welcome any assistance and input from suppliers and operators.

“I believe our coach tour operators and supporting suppliers in our close-knit industry, can spearhead the recovery, capitalising on the pent-up demand generated from lock-down, facilitating tours and excursions around the country easily and in environmentally-friendly way.

“I would say that, in all my 38 years in various tourism sectors, I have never had the privilege to be associated with a more hands-on, robust, friendly and forward-looking group of people than the coach operator members of the CTA who can react swiftly to changing circumstances.  With help from Government, partner supplier support and determination to survive, we will overcome the dark clouds on the immediate horizon.   Working together we can navigate, deliver and quickly drive down the road to tourism recovery the country needs, hopefully in the summer …”