Another CTA members’ zoom meeting saw an inspiring discussion about adapting to the current realities, and preparing plans for the recovery. A series of short presentations from members kicked off the meeting with operators Jason Edwards and Kevin Mayne accompanied by Matthew Coulter, Historic Royal Palaces and Mercedes Picard, English Heritage.

Jason Edwards spoke about the importance of addressing the cost base at the outset of the pandemic, stressing the old adage, ‘cash is king’. He also pointed to the great camaraderie and friendship found across the coach sector with people happy to listen or offer advice at any time of day or night. The government’s furlough support was described by Kevin as a ‘godsend’, and once the flexible scheme was introduced, it enabled the company to focus on forward planning.

Edwards Coaches has gone through a significant restructuring as a result of the lockdowns including having to make some redundancies, but Jason said that he thought the company may be able to emerge stronger at the end of it as the whole episode had forced a re-evaluation of the core purpose and all staff had been involved in helping to develop plans for the future. Jason and his two sons also found time during the lockdown to support their local community with food deliveries to vulnerable people.

Kevin Mayne reinforced the story about the challenges that faced the coach sector since March. Maynes Coaches was impacted by the failure of David Urquhart Travel which was a big customer, but in response, Kevin and his team decided to set up their own tour programme under the Maynes Holidays brand. He acknowledged that the business had lots of experience in running holidays, but was new to organising them which meant a steep learning curve. Unfortunately, the latest lockdowns have meant that its planned Christmas and Hogmanay programmes have had to be cancelled.

Kevin pointed to the value of learning from the past, including returning to employee transport which used to be a feature of the business more than 20 years ago, taking advantage of opportunities to get some coaches working in the lockdown with transporting key workers.

Kevin also welcomed the support and kindness he received from fellow operators and suppliers discovering ‘friends he didn’t know he had’.

Other operators on the zoom call spoke about the impact of the latest restrictions in England with some areas moving from Tier 1 up to Tier 3 after the lockdown. Kristy Elsmere, Woods Travel and Amanda Harrington, Bakers Dolphin, both pointed to the heartbreaking decision of having to drop tours where ‘customers were begging them not to cancel’.

Clearly, CTA supplier members have also faced immense challenges this year and Matthew Coulter described the extensive changes that Historic Royal Palaces had to make to ensure its properties were Covid-Safe following the first lockdown, and introduce online ticketing across the board. It was able to open four sites to coach groups and was delighted with the response and support from the sector.

HRP also adapted its offering with an innovative series of crowdcast sessions presented by Lucy Worsley which have proved very popular. Looking to 2021, it is planning a series of events including the Tulip Festival at Hampton Court from 17 April and ‘Life through the Lens’ at Kensington Palace from 4 March.

For English Heritage, Mercedes Picard explained that it looks after more than 450 sites across England and 121 of these, which charge an entrance fee, were closed for the lockdown. Virtually all staff were put on furlough, apart from essential workers who included the gardeners!

Gradually most sites were reopened although the latest tier system has put 20 properties in tier 3 including Dover Castle and Hadrian’s Wall.

English Heritage is determined to continue to support the coach trade however and its trade rates have been kept the same for 2021, and Mercedes pointed out that her number one plea during budget discussions was to retain trade association memberships including CTA.

The latest DCMS guidelines were also discussed during the meeting and a link is available here.

And here is a link to Jason Edwards’ slide presentation.

And FAQs on the latest guidelines for Wales published after the meeting are here.