Many industries have been hurt by the last 13 months and counting. Many people know that as the president and founder of the Delaware Small Business Chamber, I have and continue to advocate and fight for the small businesses in our state. I am also a business owner. As the owner of Creative Travel Inc., I know firsthand the struggles many of us have had to go through.
The interesting thing is that when I talk to many other business owners that have been hit, they tell me that for a good majority they have been able to pivot their business with curbside pickups or delivery or smaller crowds, etc. Many had cut their workforce to save money and made up for some of the losses. Now many can’t find enough employees to work to cover the gains.
When I talk to people, especially other industry business owners, even those that have been devastated by the past year and I tell them that my industry, the travel industry, here in Delaware was not considered disproportionately affected, they look at me like I’m crazy. They all say, “What? You’ve been hit harder than us.” They are right. Do you realize that most travel agencies not only lost all the sales from March of last year through at least September or October of last year? Those people would book during those months to travel later that year or into what is now this year. On top of those eight months of lost sales, we had to refund all the sales we made in 2019 and first month of 2020 that were going to travel March of 2020 through this year.
That was over 16 months of lost sales right there, and even in 2021 we are still losing sales. People have still cancelled trips from late last year through summer of this year. Cruises still are not back yet. We are going to lose 18-24 months of sales and income or more before this is over. And by the way, we could not pivot. We could not sell other tours; they weren’t happening. We had no ability for curbside pickups or deliveries or reduced clients. They were nonexistent. We lost more than most but were not disproportionately affected.
When asked about why, we were told by the state that we didn’t have enough employee loss. There are over 100 travel agents throughout the State of Delaware. We provide a much-needed service. We keep jobs and money in our communities. When people buy online they take jobs and money outside our local area and, in most cases, outside of our country and send it to several foreign call centers and countries. If people buy directly, they aren’t saving money; they are just cutting out the local travel agency. In many cases, a consumer won’t pay more using a local agency, but they get better service and keep a local business open.
Some agencies are charging fees or a plan-to-go fee because we are experts in our field, and we help people have a better experience. There are so many benefits for using a travel agent. But we need support. A good number of us have offices or storefronts but we all spend our money locally. As an industry we also pay three times the rate of most other businesses for our licenses too. Those two little words - disproportionately affected - make a difference. Some industries were added and there are less of them than there are travel agents. More than ever, we all need your help. But without those two words we could not use any grant money to pay our rents, utilities and other expenses that we aren’t getting any money in for.
With some other agencies, we started the First State Travel Professionals Alliance. We are supporting and advocating for the travel industry including agencies and local tourist attractions. We are just getting that started but will list the ethical and licensed agencies that the public can feel comfortable working with. We will be there to help the public understand the value of a travel agent as well as supporting our local businesses and attractions.
We are hoping that a meeting I had with the governor may help bring us funding, but there have been no guarantees.
We are asking everyone to help us all by not only talking to your local legislators and having them help us be added to the list so we can get some much-needed help, but to also come to the local agencies for all of your travel needs. Keep money local and in the USA. Even if the agency you’re working with charges a fee, or a plan-to-go fee or doesn’t charge one at all, they are all providing you a professional and expert service, and saving you time, money and aggravation in the long run. All the agencies that belong to, and will be able to join, the FSTPA.org Alliance will be vetted and will be able to work with you in giving you great service and keeping you safe. It’s time to travel again. Let us help you.
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