‘Big problems’ if travel firms lose summer trade
Maidenhead: Travel agent calls for more financial support from the Government
A travel agent in Maidenhead has warned that there will be ‘big problems’ if the industry is forced to take a hit on its trade for another summer as the Government remains coy on when to reopen the country.
Mark Pollard, who owns Tony Sheldon Travel in Brock Lane, has said that his firm is ‘holding on in there’ as it waits for news.
The industry has been hit hard by the pandemic, with Mark adding that he has been cancelling and changing people’s holidays for more than a year.
“What I would love to see is just a line in the sand. Even if they say people cannot go on holiday until September, at least we know where we stand,” Mark said. “The problem is, no one knows what to do.”
Mark – who has had to let some staff members go – explained
how his industry faces different problems to others.
“If we book a holiday for June, then we won’t earn any money until June,” he said.
“We have been in business for a long time and we left a nest egg for a rainy day – this has been the rainy day.”
Mark called for more financial support from Government specifically for the travel sector, which he claims it has ‘forgotten’.
He added that once more people are vaccinated, there could be potential for ‘travel
corridors’ from the UK to help get the industry back on its feet.
The possibility of people being able to travel within the UK could be another source of income when it is safe.
But Mark reiterated that there are ‘so many questions’ and remains uncertain about whether people will even want to travel once restrictions are eased.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to publish a roadmap detailing how to get the country out of lockdown on Monday.
“The whole industry is just taking a deep breath and waiting for it to kick in,” Mark said.
“I think the industry can wait until the summer. If it does not get another summer, then I think there will be big problems.”
Another sector being hit hard is leisure, with places like gyms remaining shut.
Mark Camp-Overy is the managing director of Leisure Focus, which runs the Braywick Leisure Centre in Maidenhead – a site carrying out lateral flow COVID testing.
“The industry is calling for the Government roadmap to place gyms and leisure facilities high on the agenda to reopen,” he said.
“I talk with users every day about the physical and mental benefit they get from using our facilities. They provide so much.
“We are ready and cannot wait to welcome the community back.”
A Government spokeswoman said: “We are working hard to get visitors back as soon as it is safe to do so, and we will publish our roadmap on Monday, after carefully reviewing the impact of current restrictions and the vaccine programme on infections, hospital admissions and deaths. No decisions have been made yet.”
The Slough, Windsor and Maidenhead (SWM) branch of CAMRA has moved its traditional beer and cider festival online this year – with profits being donated to Maidenhead FoodShare.
Due to the ongoing pandemic, SWM CAMRA will be unable to host its annual Maidenhead Beer Festival in the summer in the usual way.
In previous years the event was hosted at the Magnet Leisure Centre, Desborough College and Maidenhead Rugby Club.
Instead, it will be hosting a two-day virtual beer festival on March 26 and 27, between 7:30pm and 10:30pm.
Those tuning in are invited to sample 14 different bottled and canned beers across two
evenings of beer-based talks and live entertainment – all fully interactive via Zoom.
The beers will be a combination of traditional styles and craft – with a different brewery to talk about their beer each night.
Festival-goers will enjoy interviews with local pub and brewery figures, including director of Windsor & Eton Brewery, Will Calvert, Mark
Newcombe of the Craufurd Arms and a panel chat with some of the branch's pub bosses.
There will also be a pub quiz, an interactive beer tasting with beer sommelier Dave Hayward from A Hoppy Place in Windsor – the branch’s first micropub – and live music with Windsor artist Lainie Live.
Allan Willoughby, festival organiser, said: “The likelihood of having any mass outdoor events this summer is pretty slim, so we decided to go online. It’s uncharted waters for us, but it was that or cancel the event.
“Because we didn’t have a festival last year, we think this is the way forward in the short term.”
The price is £34.95 per night which includes seven beers and a snack or £64.95 for the
weekend pass (14 beers and two snacks). Nationwide delivery is free of charge.
For more information and details of the programme, visit https://tinyurl.com/1ga9qlxk
Profits will be donated to SWM CAMRA’s official branch
charity FoodShare.
Tickets are available through A Hoppy Place at ahoppyplace.co.uk/ product/mbf21/
Last orders for ticket sales are on Sunday, March 7 at 11.59pm.