Ffestiniog Travel: all set for the return of overseas railtours
THE overseas rail travel industry may have all but collapsed in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, but signs are that it is gearing up for a major resurgence nextyear.
That is the view from Ffestiniog Travel, which has cancelled 19 of its scheduled tours due to depart before August, including tailor- made tours which account for a third of its business- with all of its customers fully refunded.
Owned by a charitable trust with profits supporting the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways, Ffestiniog Travel was established in 1974, making it one of the UK's longest- running rail holiday operators, arranging railtours around the UK, Europe and worldwide.
Half the company's staff have been furloughed, a necessary course for sustainable survival, while the remainder of the staff on duty have been processing refunds and also planning next year's programme. Tours which the company has been forced to cancel will, wherever possible, be automatically included again in the 2021 programme, with many customers already having booked tours from it.
The company's founding director Alan Heywood, 80, said:" l'm confident that our customers will remember us once they're ready to travel again. Nearly everyone has said ' put us down for next year; so at the moment the feeling is very positive. We're hoping they'll be raring to go by Christmas!
"Our travellers are people who enjoy seeing the world, learning about the places they visit, taking in the scenery and visiting cities of interest. So perhaps they will be less cautious than some:'
Alan has been spending his days responding to the many emails of thanks the company has received after it took the decision to refund all monies to anyone whose holiday was cancelled. He said:" lt helps that we are a small company, so we buy flight seats and hotel beds in small numbers rather than getting locked into large contracts. We've been able to keep faith with our customers, but many other, bigger travel companies have not been so lucky:'
Experience
Alan's rail industry experience goes back to 1955, when he first volunteered asa 15- year- old schoolboy at the recentlyreopened Porthmadog Harbour station. He remained closely associated throughout the 1960s and was soon involved in most aspects of the railway's day- to- day operations. After teaching geography and history in Cheshire, he joined the railway full- time in 1969 as traffic manager.
When the Beeching cuts saw all staff removed from numerous stations on the Cambrian Coast Line, commercial opportunities were created for the Ffestiniog Railway which was asked by BR to become its agent for domestic rail tickets throughout the UK.
When Alan joined the railway, he applied for this to be extended to Sealink Ferries and continental rail, and so Ffestiniog Travel was born! The Ffestiniog Railway Society's 5000 members proved to be the first, ideal market to sell these European rail holidays to.
The Sealinkjourney between Harwich and Hoek van Holland provided a gateway to the whole of Europe, but Alan knew there was much more to explore by train beyond The Netherlands and he set his sights on Switzerland for the company's first continental rail tour.
"We knew that regular Ffestiniog Railway passengers and society members loved the mountain landscapes and heritage railways of Snowdonia, so Switzerland, with its many scenic mountain railways and spectacular Alpine landscapes, seemed like the natural destination;' he said. "Originally it was planned as a one- off trip, but little did we know that that first trip in October 1974 would become the fulcrum of our business for the next 45 years:'
Alan remains cautiously optimistic that once the restrictions are lifted, customer confidence in travel will return. "I think confidence will return eventually and there will undoubtedly be a pent- up desire to travel, but I do think that it may be slow in coming;' he said.
"Still, I'm certain that it will come back in the longer term. Indications so far suggest that customers have not lost their appetite to travel:'
Before the pandemic, there had already been a growing trend towards rail travel, with customers opting to take the train for environmental reasons. Alan witnessed this first- hand, with some passengers forgoing flights to Romania, for example, and instead adding on an extra rail segment, extending their holiday by three days in each direction. However, he said that it is too soon to say if Covid- 19 will escalate that trend.
Loyalty
Meanwhile, Liz Turner, who joined Ffestiniog Travel in 1973 as Alan's righthand woman, and who retired last year at the age of 68, is back, volunteering to help the company deal with the devastating impact that coronavirus has had on the tourism industry. The longest serving Ffestiniog Travel employee on record, who has carried out every role within the company over the decades, from secretarial, administrative, product development, customer services to leading tours, said:'' There's no place I'd rather be right now.
"I couldn't think of a better way to spend retirement than supporting this small, independent, pioneering company that led the way in rail holiday travel in the UK, if not the world.
"Right now, we are reminded just how precious travel is:'
Alan concluded: "We are extremely grateful to Liz for coming back on board. Her expertise in all areas of the business will help us manage the crisis and plan our recovery so that when tours can operate again, we are ready'.'