We sat down for a chat with Niall McNamara, one of the owners of Apex Travel to find out how their business, clients and others in travel are faring with the latest setbacks resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
1. How are your business travellers responding to the latest spate of state and territory lockdowns?
I think the key word is "frustration". Every time businesses that rely on travel begin to gain momentum, it’s not long until it's halted again.
Our business clients are once more suspending cross boarder travel, postponing events, and bracing for the impacts this latest shutdown will have on their businesses.
As a travel provider we are working closely with our industry partners to manage the frustration and anxiety for all our business clients. It’s not easy, but what we are seeing is that businesses who are resilient and flexible in their approach, seem to adapt faster and have better outcomes during this crisis.
2. What are your thoughts on the current roadmap to freedom presented by Flight Centre? And the Governments four phase roadmap out of the pandemic? Do they go far enough?
I personally think Flight Centre's roadmap makes a lot of sense. It's clear, realistic, and achievable, as opposed to the Federal Government version which doesn’t set any clear timeline or deadlines.
Given the problems we've encountered with the vaccine roll out, I think accountability in the form of deadlines is a very Important component to Australia reaching some form of pre-COVID normality as evidenced by what’s currently happening across the US, Europe and the UK.
3. The US, Europe and the UK all appear to be re-opening for travel. How do Australian travellers feel about this?
Green with envy! I think Australian’s first and foremost all want to ensure that our people are safe, but for the past 18 months I don't think we've looked beyond the COVID-19 related illness, to what the future might look like.
The Northern hemisphere in contrast has placed a lot more emphasis on the importance of returning to a new version of normality ASAP. So, their population is now getting back to living their lives again and starting to travel.
The original rational behind slowing down and eradicating the virus in Australia was to allow for our medical system to prepare for the expected surge in cases and possible overloading of our hospital and medical systems.
However, the huge numbers never appeared, and we're well and truly prepared now, so why are our government and leaders still aiming for total eradication? Let’s face reality…COVID-19 isn’t going anywhere and we're going to need to learn to live with It.
Personally, I have major concerns over the flow on affect of mental health related problems arising from being shut out from the world for so long. I know a lot of people are really struggling to cope with these strict lockdowns, both mentally and financially.
4. As a travel business owner what does this latest COVID setback mean for your business?
Again "frustration". Long hours, and no income. We're now rather numb in terms of all the emotional hits, but it does make it very tough financially.
We will get through due to our business model and our amazing clients who continue to support us at every opportunity, but honestly is a tough time to be a business owner in the travel industry at the moment.
5. Do you think the government has done enough to support the Australian travel sector?
I think they’ve tried to some extent, but I do believe they've missed some key opportunities.
The vaccination roll out alone could have been handled a lot better, which would have put the travel sector, among many others, in a far better place as we're seeing in other parts of the world.
I agree with the AFTA Chairman’s statement this week that “The reality is that with borders slamming shut domestically and the Trans-Tasman bubble closed more often than it’s open, Australia’s travel agents and businesses are in a worse situation than we were this time last year.”
Our industry is fantastic at coming together and we need to collectively put more pressure on the state and federal governments, if we want to see the travel sector thrive again any time soon.
6. How and when would you personally like to see domestic and/or international travel resume?
I'd like to see Australia fully open domestically very soon, say within 2 months.
COVID has been a real eye opener for me in terms of the power awarded to the various state governments and premiers. I personally believe we'd be in a much better place if the response to the pandemic had been handled from a federal level rather than as a state-based approach.
After the dropping of the domestic borders, I think we can then move onto some more permanent travel bubbles with the low-risk countries such as the Pacific Islands, Singapore, Hong Kong and Korea. Then finally, when vaccinations hit the required numbers, open to the rest of the world with some safeguards in place such as home quarantine. Dare to dream!
