‘Wish you were here…for us’ – travel agent’s direct plea to Chancellor

A travel agent is urging colleagues to send Chancellor Rishi Sunak postcards appealing for help for the ‘currently entirely ignored’ travel industry.

The Chancellor announced an expansion of the Job Support Scheme on Friday, saying the government would offer financial help only to businesses that are legally forced to close as a direct result of coronavirus restrictions.

However, the measures failed to impress the travel industry, with industry bodies including ABTA, the Association of Independent Tour Operators and UKInbound all calling for compensation to stem further job losses.  

Liddy Pleasants, Managing Director of Stubborn Mule Travel, from Wickham Market in Suffolk, posted on travel industry Facebook forum Travel Gossip on Saturday: "The lobbying from the travel industry has made no difference. The letter to my MP has made no difference. It’s time for a direct appeal to Rishi Sunak.

"Travel colleagues, please send your own postcard to the Chancellor. It seems a fitting medium to appeal for help for the currently-entirely-ignored travel industry."

In a screen shot of her postcard, Pleasants writes: "As a travel company, we have been unable to earn any money since March, due to the ban on almost all international travel. Are we eligible for the new Job Support Scheme? If not, why not?"

Pleasants – who has worked in the travel industry for 25 years and last year had a turnover of £4.5 turnover – said she hadn’t sent a single client away on holiday since March and didn’t expect to until Easter.

"I decided to do something after Rishi Sunak’s latest announcement that he will give compensation to companies that have been forced to close, like pubs and restaurants, that have been able to trade, but not compensate companies, like mine, that have had no income for the past six months.

"That was the final straw for me," she said.

With comments of support, one agent said: "Fantastic Liddy! My postcard is on the way on Monday. Let’s all send him one."

Another said: "Great idea, let’s bombard him with postcards."

"Maybe sign off with ‘wish you were here… for us’," added another.

Pleasants – who offers specialised family tours to destinations like Costa Rica, Sri Lanka and Namibia – also criticised the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, describing its travel advice as ‘lazy’ in that it wasn’t country specific.

"The FCDO continues to concentrate on mainstream areas. It’s lazy and I can’t understand why it’s not talking on a more country by country basis. We’ve had lots of enquiries from people desperate to go away – for the October half term or for Christmas, but there isn’t one place we can offer them that either doesn’t have a travel warning or where countries specifically are not letting people in."

Pleasants said she had been inundated with support from people on her personal Facebook page, as well as via Travel Gossip and urged others to send their own postcards to the Chancellor.

By Louise Longman, Contributing Editor (UK)