Travel agents brace as business chills

Press, 11 May 1989, Page 7

Travel agents brace as business chills

By

LES BLOXHAM,

travel editor

Travel agents are bracing themselves for a long, lean winter as hundreds of New Zealanders shelve plans for overseas holidays.

A downturn in outbound travel which began last November appeared to be continuing, forcing some agencies to close and others to cut back staff.

In January,' air ticket sales were down $27.2 million — 38 per cent — on the $72.5 million for the comparative month a year ago. That trend was reflected in the latest statistics released by the Tourist and Publicity Department.

They showed that in February, 31,545 New Zealanders made shortterm departures — 2000 (5.6 per cent) fewer than in February, 1988.

This was a dramatic decrease on the monthly figures last year. In July, for instance, 85,554 left New Zealand on shortterm trips — an increase of 14.4 per cent on the same month in 1987.

A survey this week of 14 Christchurch travel agents (both large and

small) revealed that most were experiencing a drop in demand for overseas travel.

• One agency has closed its central city shop and another, part of a national chain, will rationalise its business by closing its Christchurch shop and switching to a franchise arrangement with another chain.

At least three other agencies have shut their doors in smaller towns south of Christchurch since January. According to the returns of the Bank Settlement Plan — the agent/ airline co-operative which handles the bulk of ticket revenue — the areas worst hit by the slump were Dunedin, down 56 per cent, Rotorua, 49 per cent, and Christchurch, 42 per cent.

The decline in Auckland and Wellington was not as severe — down 15 per cent and 12 per cent respectively. The biggest fall appeared to be in travel to Australia, the Pacific Islands and the United States. Destinations in Asia, Europe and Britain were faring much better. Australia certainly has lost the pulling power it had a year ago when both

the bicentennial celebrations and Expo were in full swing. Some flights were crossing the Tasman barely half full. Qantas reported traffic was down about 20 per cent on this time a year ago.

Air New Zealand was also concerned by the trend on some routes and was reportedly monitoring the situation closely. During February, New Zealanders visiting Australia fell 6.2 per cent — from 20,200 to 18,970. The number for the United States was also down 6.2 per cent — from 2250 to 2169.

Many in the travel industry were uneasy about the future, in spite of the fact that the Bank Settlement Plan’s March returns showed a big increase on last year — from $58.5 million to $83.7 million. Agents said this extra revenue was gathered in a rush to issue tickets to beat air fare increases that became effective on April 1. Overall, the returns for the first quarter were up only 1.8 per cent — from $174.4 million in 1988 to $177.6 million.

Many agents feared the worse was yet to come.