Travel agency brands Saga ‘disgusting’ in social media backlash

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Over-50s specialist operator Saga has suffered a social media backlash after telling its customers they must be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 at least two weeks before they travel.

Travel agency Tradewinds Travel labelled the company ‘disgusting’ and some customers called for a boycott.

Saga said last week that it had taken the decision to make vaccination mandatory after speaking to its customers.

Customer polling showed 95% of its guests were supportive of the policy change. Since it was announced, the company is understood to have received a largely positive response from both trade partners and customers.

In an announcement on its website on 21 January, Saga said customers who are exempt from the vaccine would still be allowed to travel but all others must have both doses before being allowed on its holidays, tours or cruises.

In order to allow enough time for all booked passengers to be fully vaccinated, the company has pushed back the planned start of its programmes to 1 May.

In the statement, CEO Chris Simmonds said Saga ‘want to ensure we are providing the safest possible experience’ for its guests, many of whom are elderly.

Advantage Travel chief executive Julia Lo Bue-Said welcomed the move last week, saying it would provide travellers with greater levels of comfort and confidence.

While others have also praised Saga for making vaccinations compulsory, travel agency Tradewinds Travel said it was ‘disgusting’ in a post of Twitter.

Tradewinds Travel also says on Twitter that it has boycotted Qantas since the airline’s CEO indicated the Aussie airline would require passengers to be vaccinated. [LINK]

In fact, Brentford based Tradewinds Travel doesn’t appear to be taking any bookings currently as a message on its website says it won’t be fully open for reservations until April.

Travellers call for Saga boycott

Some travellers have also called for a boycott of Saga following its decision to make vaccinations compulsory for its customers.

While a handful of users responding to Saga’s announcement on Twitter supported the move, dozens appeared enraged by its vaccination policy.

Some said it was ‘fascist discrimination’, others that it was against the Nuremburg Code, which is a set of principles for human experimentation and has nothing to do with travel.

One person tweeted in response to Saga’s announcement: "The Nuremberg codes states that people should be ‘able to exercise free power of choice, without the intervention of any element of force, fraud, deceit, duress, over-reaching, or other ulterior form of constraint or coercion’. Your forced compliance violates this ruling."

Other users accused Saga of attempting to breach data protection rules, while some accused it of ‘pushing’ the vaccine on customers who might otherwise refuse it.

One person wrote: "Do you actually think you’ll have any customers left after they’ve been blackmailed into getting a trial vaccination?? You’ve just basically declared yourself bankrupt as well as breaking the Nuremberg code well done."

One customer claimed that after booking with Saga for ‘almost 20 years’ she would take her business elsewhere.

Another said: "This is an absolute disgrace. You are trying to coerce people into being vaccinated, which is very wrong and starting down a dangerous path.".

The users who supported Saga’s decision said it was ‘a smart move’, ‘brave and bold’, and they felt the policy would protect its customers.

Saga claims customers are sticking with it

In a trading update given to the London Stock Exchange this morning, Saga said its customer retention rates for cruises was 69% – with £140m of cruises booked so far – while for its tour operations it was 41%.

It said the requirement for all guests to be fully vaccinated was in addition to its enhanced safety procedures. These include reduced guest capacity on cruises to allow for appropriate social distancing, enhanced medical areas and air conditioning, multi-layer Covid-19 testing ahead of departure, increased crew/guest ratios in order to deliver enhanced cleaning regimes and a quarantine and testing procedure for crew.

"These measures further compliment the nature of our spacious, boutique ships which offer fresh air in all cabins, control of airflow in public spaces and ionisation and ultra-violet filter capability, enabling the safest experience for our guests," it said in its update.

By Linsey McNeill, Editor (UK)