Coronavirus forces lovers of intercontinental travel to stay still. Travel agencies, due to the health emergency and the various blockades imposed in countries around the world, are experiencing a frightening decline in turnover. An estimated -80% and almost 9,000 jobs at risk. A real alarm signal came from the trade associations that a few days ago wrote to the Federal Council to ask for concrete and urgent help.
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Teleticino’s colleagues went to the Lugano Travel Agency in Viganello, founded in 2011, to understand the situation a little better.
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Shelves full of elevations but …
The shelves are full of elevations that are now worth nothing. “Travel no longer corresponds to what you can read, it is now waste paper”, says Elena Vanossi-Poleti of the Lugano Travel Agency with regret. The destinations, in fact, can be counted on the palm of a hand but, Vanossi-Poleti confirms: “We do not have any kind of financial help”. In fact, there are no products to sell: “Traveling abroad has become prohibitive for several reasons”.
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Nothing to sell but nothing to help
Not only nothing to sell but in the months of the lockdown travel agencies have spent their time making refunds and canceling trips of any kind. “Initially we did not have the pulse of the situation so much so that the Easter trips were thought to be able to postpone them to the summer. It was not immediately clear that the matter would go on for so long. There was also a kind of hope ”.
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“We don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel”
As the months went by, the situation became clearer and more dramatic and “we have sunk, we don’t see the light beyond the tunnel”. But hope for the industry could come on Wednesday when the CF speaks out on short-time work allowances and aid in general. In fact, in Switzerland, there are 1,300 agencies that risk bankruptcy if they do not receive aid. “We expect an awareness and at least the possibility of suspending taxes, such as the payment of social security contributions and extending aid until the end of the year,” says Elena.
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“I recommend Italy”
On the destinations to recommend Elena explains: “I would recommend only Italy and Switzerland, but it is difficult for customers who come to book a hotel in Zermatt”. On Italy Elena explains: “We doubt that it will be put as a country at risk and therefore it is not mandatory to quarantine on return”
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“For thirty years this is the first time I have seen such a situation”
Elena has been working in the field for 30 years, I’ve seen many crises but never of this intensity. “September 11, 2001 was difficult, like the terrorist attacks in various cities in the following years: we have had several delicate episodes but there was always an alternative. Not now”. To restart the sector, Elena concludes, “hopefully in medicine”.
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