Reiskoepel ANVR and the affiliated travel companies are seeing some light at the end of the tunnel now that the government has announced that it will use the 'support measures plus' package. ANVR is very happy and relieved that the travel sector, which is one of the most affected, is eligible for extra support from the government. With many hundreds of thousands of cancellations, high repatriation costs and an average revenue decline of around 85%, 2020 is a dramatic year. Travel companies therefore desperately need this support to bridge the winter in the hope that they will soon be able to focus on what is possible.
Frank Oostdam, chairman of ANVR: “Keeping the NOW scheme at 80%, increasing the percentage of fixed costs and extending and continuing the TVL compensation for this and next quarter will in any case give some benefit to a large number of travel companies. sky. Fortunately, our self-employed travel agents, the self-employed people in our industry who have so far been left out, can now also call on funds that are made available via municipalities. ”
From a previous survey among ANVR travel companies, 80% said they were likely to survive the crisis, but only with the use of equity capital, reorganization and extra support from the government; and that is coming now. In addition to these 'plus' on top of the generic measures, the travel sector and guarantee fund SGR are in talks with the government to arrange the details for a so-called Voucher Bank; a voucher facility for travel companies that have issued Travel Vouchers with a SGR guarantee. Travel companies borrow an amount from the government that they repay in the long term, and can - without immediately running into financial problems - redeem the many thousands of Travel Vouchers with SGR guarantee that consumers still have in their possession.
The severely affected sector, which has now been practically halted for about 10 months, holds hope for recovery in 2021 and mainly wants to look at what can be done. She trusts that holiday and business travel will soon be possible again with the help of vaccines, a lot of tests, protocols, etc. And that the customer who is still waiting is now ready for a holiday, as shown by recent research by Trends & Tourism, in which 70 % of Dutch people with vacation plans indicate that they want to go abroad next summer and preferably by plane. This reports the ANVR on their website through this press release.
Also read: Travel sector remains hopeful for a recovery in 2021
