Agents Resilient in the Face of Terror Threats
The majority of travel agents surveyed in the
latest Amadeus snap poll expressed their confidence in the travel business
in light of the ongoing threat of terrorism. When asked to assess the
potential impact of terrorism 55 per cent of agents believed it would not
negatively affect their business.
With the summer booking season underway, agents remained optimistic that
terrorist activity would not undermine bookings. One agent commented,
“Travel will not grind to a halt because of terrorist activity. I expect a
niche travel agent may be negatively affected if their destinations are
targeted, but the travel industry will continue to pioneer holidays to
different destinations because people will always want and need to travel.”
Just under half of the respondents (45%) to the poll who did envisage a
negative impact on their business stated that it was likely lead to a
decline of less than 25% and that leisure travel would suffer the most.
Commenting on this issue, one agent stated, “Leisure travel tends to be more
discretionary, and we envisage a decline in leisure travel sales or perhaps
alternative destinations being booked if and when terrorist threats arise”.
Only a small percentage of respondents felt that business travel would be
affected as most of the travel agents taking part in the survey saw business
travel’s resilience as a major factor in protecting forward bookings in that
sector.
Reflecting on the poll results Rob Golledge, Communications Manager at
Amadeus UK commented,“The threat of terrorism has been a part of modern life
in the UK for decades, but we are still shocked by the brutality of attacks.
Most of the responses to this month’s snap poll reflect a pragmatic approach
to the terror threats with agents believing that it will not negatively
affect their business this year”.
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