I'm sad to say we’ve had to let a member of staff go

AN INDEPENDENT agency formed 16 years ago, we’ve seen a fair few ups and downs in the travel industry. We realised that to continue to grow and compete with the internet we had to be as diverse as possible, and we now have a strong affinity and member service from our Travel Clubs and seven websites, as well as two shops.

Despite the industry forecasting doom and gloom, we still decided to staff up for the usually busy first three months of the year.

The state of the economy always has an effect on booking patterns but one can usually predict it. Brexit, however, is different.

We had a good January, with figures up on previous years. In February we struggled to maintain figures but for March we have fallen off a cliff, with sales down 13% .

The most common reasons for people enquiring, but not booking, because of

Brexit are: Passport validity, following scare stories in the press; worries about budgeting; and people concerned about big queues at immigration or needing a visa. Plus some more obscure questions like: Will the hotels be open? And will people still welcome us?

When we had a fixed date for leaving there seemed to be an end in sight to all this uncertainty and a hope that the bookings would flood back, but with uncertainy prevailing, I'm sad to say we’ve had to let a member of staff go.

On a happier note, I'm pleased we are developing our own tours again, including a Murder in Paradise tour of Guadeloupe, following a fam trip I went on! THE INDEPENDENT

Roger Benn Managing Director, Benchmark Travel