Coping During COVID-19:
This week Travel Courier checks in with Shauna Cook, Top of the World and Scandinavia Specialist with The Great Canadian Travel Group Inc., who misses travelling so much she looks at her passport every day.
What has it been like being a travel agent over the past few months?
It has certainly been a roller coaster. I was travelling just prior to everything happening. My husband and I returned from the Dominican Republic on March 7, and went into isolation on our return. Once we finished our 14 days, everything had really started to develop. I specialize in travel to Scandinavia, Russia/Baltics, Iceland, Faroe Islands and Greenland, and it just so happened that all my Iceland Northern Lights clients were booked for February, and I had no one actually travelling when the airlines and borders started shutting down. I had a few bookings for end of March that were cancelled, but the bulk of my clients travel from May to September.
How has this impacted your business and income?
I was laid off for a period of one month (March 20– April 16). My employer applied for and was approved for the Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) program, so we were all brought back at that time. We are working approx. 30 hours a week these days. I am keeping busy as the majority of my clients, about 80%, have decided to re-book for 2021 travel, so my days are spent re-booking tours and hotels. This year will certainly be a low point for me in terms of business coming in, however I feel our clients and the travelling public will come back as eager as ever to travel.
Boating amongst icebergs off the west coast of Greenland
What do you miss most about travelling?
I miss the adventure, and the excitement leading up to a new trip. I love exploring new cities and trying new foods. Meeting people and experiencing traditions and customs as well. I miss the freedom and the unknown. I look at my passport every day, and it is just longing to be stamped!
How has travel impacted your own life?
Travel is everything to me. I know that is a broad statement, but it is accurate. I was late to travel game, until I turned 20, I hadn’t seen much of Canada and had only been to New York state. After college (I studied tourism), I moved to Alberta from Ontario to work in Banff for a summer. I met hundreds of people from all over the world that were travelling to find themselves. This gave me the urge to travel as well. I started planning and took my first trip to Europe (Poland and Germany), and I was hooked. Everywhere I travel, I leave a piece of myself, but I also find a piece of myself. I truly feel that travel changed how I view things. I grew up in a sheltered small town, and I had no idea just how vast the world was. Now I have seen the sun set on the other side of the world, and I am forever changed.
Dogsledding high above the Arctic Circle in Kirkenes, Norway at 1:15pm in December.
Have you had a client or supplier do something nice for you during this time?
A lot of kind words have been sent my way from clients, which is lovely. A client that I have booked to travel to the Faroe Islands in August (rebooking for August 2021 as we speak!), sent a simple note to me a Travel Agents Day wishing me a good day – which was lovely, as a lot of the general public aren’t really aware of Travel Agent Day, so that was a nice message. I work with Hurtigruten a lot, and they have been extremely supportive of their agent network, and are really doing their best to make things as easy as possible for us.
St Basil’s Cathedral in the Red Square, Moscow, Russia
I miss the adventure, and the excitement leading up to a new trip. I love exploring new cities and trying new foods. Meeting people and experiencing traditions and customs as well. I miss the freedom and the unknown. I look at my passport every day, and it is just longing to be stamped!”
Shauna Cook
Travel Consultant, The Great Canadian Travel Group Inc.
Do you have any strategies to get through the next few months?
I am just taking things day by day and week by week. Contacting clients with upcoming plans, and going over their options. I currently also run our companies social media platforms (Instagram and Facebook), so our plan is to gradually start advertising some great sales for 2021 travel. Right now, we are promoting Canada and what a great ‘backyard’ we have, as that will be the summer travel plans for a lot of us this year.
If there’s one positive thing that’s come out of this, it’s been that people have seen the value of using a travel agent firsthand. Do you agree?
Absolutely! It is our job to get the best results for our clients, no matter the circumstances. It just takes a quick email or phone call with us to find out what the clients want, then they don’t have to worry about anything. We take care of the rebooking, or the waiting on hold, contacting our reps, etc – they can just relax and take care of themselves and their families. I truly believe that more people will book with travel agents once travelling is permitted again.
With husband Martyn at Horseshoe Canyon in Drumheller, Alta.
Do you have any advice for other agents during this time?
Be patient, and stick it out if you can. I know it is rough at times, but everyone has a little wanderlust in them… whether it is just to explore the next province, or take you completely out of your comfort zone to a new continent. Our clients will come back, and with them will come new first time clients looking for support that they lacked during this pandemic. Be ready for them. Educate yourself, take webinars, familiarize yourself with new destinations or types of travelling. Our clients will be looking for new things, bucket list destinations and once in a life time experiences when they return – it is important to be ready for them.
Do you have anything to add?
The world is different now, and we will never go back to the way we were pre COVID-19, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. People will always have a desire to travel, we need to be at the forefront of helping our current and future clients understand how travel will be in our future. It can and will be safe to travel again, we just need to make some adjustments to how we proceed.
Mt. Kirkjufell on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula in west Iceland
