05 July 07
Flying in the face of terror
|
Britons are flying in the face of
terror despite increased national security after the botched attacks in
London and Glasgow.
Agents and operators have expressed
relief that business has remained steady following the incidents.
Some even claim bookings soared after
the weekend, suggesting the recent deluge of rain across the UK is
outweighing the terror threat in terms of impact on demand. Instances of
cancellations directly related to the failed bombings were isolated.
Elite Travel Group chairman Neil
Basnett said he feared the worst when he saw television images of the
blazing jeep crashed into Glasgow airport.
“I thought ‘this is all we need
after a slow start to the summer’,” he said.
“But it could have been far worse,
and we were lucky there were no casualties.”
Basnett said one customer cancelled a
flight-only booking fearing there could be further attacks.
But online agency Travel Republic
claimed business was booming.
It reported a 5% increase in bookings
from Friday to Tuesday, over the same five days the previous week, and
said Saturday’s sales were 22% up on the previous week.
Managing director Paul Furner said:
“The past seven days have been the strongest ever. It proves the
travelling public is tremendously resilient.
“They accept tight security at
airports and refuse to let the terrorist threat get in the way of their
long-awaited summer holidays.”
But Ian Dickson Travel in Edinburgh did
not find business quite so buoyant.
Business travel manager Jon Grosse
admitted to receiving some cancellations after the Glasgow attack,
revealing: “Call-offs came mainly from people flying to London.
“More worryingly, however, two groups
of Chinese tourists who were booked for late summer are reconsidering
the trip in light of the alerts. That could be almost 2% of our annual
turnover.”
The Scottish public was singled out by
one industry leader for special praise.
Cosmos Holidays sales director Andy
Washington said: “It was first day of the Scottish school holidays.
Having never been directly hit by terror before, it could have been
tough to recover.
“The Scots demonstrated fantastic
composure; to be up and running less than 24 hours later was incredible.
“For us, it was the best weekend I
can recall in terms of bookings.”
| 
