Some executives of companies in the Travel and Tour industry have lamented about the debilitating effect restrictions on flight movement have had on their operations.
According to the Head of Business Development at One People Travels, Victor Satuh, the company’s cost of operations is very high and since they are not making money because of the pandemic they had to close up albeit being optimistic.
“We package tours to religious sites, and we sell it. Here is the case where you can’t even get the people out of the country. You can see our building, it’s a big infrastructure. Rent, overhead cost and staff salaries, you just can’t afford any of those things anymore, but yes, man is always moving, and so it’s an industry that will definitely pick up.”
Even though he is hopeful, he indicated that, the rejuvenation of the sector is contingent on “How fast… the borders are opened and how well the people in the industry are able to create travel confidence among our people.”
Workers in the Travel and Tour sector are among a plethora of employees reeling under the gloomy cloud of COVID-19.
Another operator, Joyce, let out that even after the government gave the Greenlight for companies in the sector to open up, the only person he was able to recall was his secretary as all her ten staff had been asked to go home for the mean time.
“Roughly, I had about ten staff, including the cleaners, but they all went home because money was not coming from the ticketing and the tours so they all had to stay home. When I realized I had to open, I had to call just the Secretary so that we can start and see how it goes. If business starts and the government opens the borders and people can travel then I can call them back.”
Victor, also said they,
“adopted a system of not letting people go home, but we had to understand what the system was. We were not making any money, we cannot work, so we had to take a break. It’s a semi mandatory leave for everybody. The company tries to support the staff monthly as best as can be done. Unfortunately, the truth is that, we just do not know how long we can sustain it, but we’re doing our very best.”
While workers in the Travel and Tour sector have not necessarily lost their jobs, nearly 90 percent, and in some cases 100 percent of staff; have no work to do.
CEO of Country Links Travel and Tour, Gladys Obeng recounted how flourishing business was before the outbreak of the Coronavirus but she remains resolute as she believes this is a downer which the sector will rise from.
“…Because we are established right in the middle of the spare parts dealers in Abbosey-Okai, we handle all their tickets and all their travels for them. Aside that, we also do tours, both local and international tours. We also have a study abroad package. So indeed, sales was good for the past 20 years until now. Though every business has its ups and downs, business was very good.”
Victor also reminisced about the early days of the pandemic.
“Before the first two cases came in anyway, I had a certain understanding of where the industry was going to go. I was in Israel when the outbreak was announced worldwide. And just before I left Israel, the whole City of Bethlehem was under lock-down, so it gave me a perspective of what could possibly happen. So, when I got back a few days later and they announced that we had our first two cases, I knew we were going in for a lock-down and the first thing that came to mind was, what’s going to happen to our industry?”
He indicated that the advent of COVID-19 was analogous to a bullet.
“It’s like a bullet coming at you. You will see the flash of the muscle of the gun but you know it’s coming and you can’t dodge it. Unfortunately, it came that fast and that hard. It was definitely fast and hard.”
The impact of this has been enormous for hotels, restaurants, car rental services and other businesses in the hospitality industry that rely heavily on travelers to stay in business. Travel and Tour companies have indeed not been left out.
According to government, Ghana’s tourism and hospitality industry is expected to record a hundred and seventy-one million-dollar ($171 million) loss in revenue due to the adverse impact of coronavirus within four months. The Travel and tour operators are hoping things will pick up soon.
Already, some business owners in the industry are finding other means to make ends meet.
One peculiar feature of the Travel and Tour sector is that, it serves as a link between travelers and airlines. With these two groups literally not moving, mostly internationally, they are left with domestic airlines, which are currently operating in the country.
