SINGAPORE – Together with most of Singapore, travel businesses are preparing to enter an extended period of remote operations and tightened social restrictions, further testing their resilience to stay on course for recovery.
Ms Seah noted the challenges the agency faces in maintaining operational cost such as manpower, but is “grateful” for the government’s extension of wage subsidies and support till May.– Dynasty Travel’s director, public relations & communications, Alicia Seah
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced yesterday (21 April) that its current ‘circuit breaker’ measures to curb the coronavirus spread, which include the closure of schools and most work places deemed not essential, will be extended by one month until 1 June.
With the move, travel agencies are seeing the window of recovery pushed out to June at the earliest but remain hopeful as they continue to hang onto their staff with the help of the Singapore government’s wage subsidy.
Dynasty Travel said that it has “been able to retain all our staff and may exercise a flexible work schedule if the recovery slows in June”, according to the agency’s director, public relations & communications, Alicia Seah.
“We are hopeful that these drastic measures will be able to stabilise the situation by late-May and there will be a pent up demand to travel by June onwards.”
Ms Seah noted the challenges the agency faces in maintaining operational cost such as manpower, but is “grateful” for the government’s extension of wage subsidies and support till May.
In the meantime, the agency is adapting to the situation by keeping its customers engaged through its social media platforms.
“Our loyal customers are of importance and we have come up with creative digital content on topics from health and fitness to international cuisine as well as contests to give away travel vouchers,” she said.
Inbound travel agency Sea Wheel Travel is pressing ahead with its headcount of over 80 staff largely intact, save for one staff who left the company and two coach drivers who brought forward their retirement by six months, according to the agency’s managing director Jeremy Ng.
The current pandemic had wiped out the agency’s 20% year-on-year gains from confirmed bookings for the first quarter of 2020, which had set it up for a record year. After Singapore closed its border to tourists in March, it saw business fall to zero in a matter of few days.
There are obvious challenges planning ahead in this pandemic, Mr Ng acknowledges, who says it is “almost impossible to effectively plan for more than two months ahead”.
“For now, we can only keep our team up to date and prepared for the rebound in tourism. We’re taking the time now to upgrade our capabilities and physical and technological assets. This is likely the only time that I can involve the entire team with upgrading our online system project. Things do look gloomy today, but positivity is the best fuel to keep us going,” he said.
Adapting to new roles: tour guides
Tour guides, especially those who are self-employed, have been badly affected with business down to zero as early as February.
In response, Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has worked with the Society of Tourist Guides (Singapore) to redeploy a total of 56 self-employed tour guides to conduct checks on businesses for safe distancing measures and ensure public safety.
The guides are being sent as Safe Distancing Ambassadors to districts such as Chinatown, Little India and Orchard Road.
The guides are being “remunerated fairly” for their work, according to STB’s Kenneth Lim, director, Travel Agents and Tourist Guides.
Oh Young Ju, a licensed Korean-speaking tour guide in Singapore for 25 years, has deployed to Orchard Road for up to eight hours each day in two shifts.
“I really wanted to be of some help during these difficult times,” said Ms Oh.
This stint has provided her work and some income in the interim since she wound up her last tour group on 9 February. She used to run an average of six to seven tours every month, each lasting an average of four days.
“I’m trying not to be impatient or to worry and am trying to think of this as an opportunity to recharge myself. I’m taking the time to read up and improve my knowledge of current affairs and social issues in Singapore,” she added.
Tell us your Covid-19 stories and how your travel business is adapting to shutdowns in this time at [email protected]