Time For A Little Initiative

Joe Scott is the president of Year Round Travel in North York, Ontario and he’s also the founder of the Travel Industry Workers Global Assistance Initiative (TIWGAI — www.tiwgai.com). In a question and answer session with Canadian Travel Press, Scott talks about the travel industry in a time of crisis and what TIWGAI is all about and why he launched it.

Scott told CTP:

“As a 35 year-plus veteran of our industry, I’ve certainly seen many changes. Our industry has survived many a crisis, including economic meltdowns, SARS, H1 N1, political upheaval, and probably most significantly, 9-11.”

And he continued: “All of these calamities pale in comparison to the current COVID-19 pandemic. It’s truly the enemy you cannot see. Due to the pandemic, all sectors of our industry were literally shut down. Cruise ships are in port. Airlines are grounded. Hotels have been shuttered. And borders are closed.”

And Scott added: “In the global environment where we all find ourselves now, people are fearful, and rightly so. Unfortunately, this fear translates directly to the travel business being literally devastated.  Some people may be willing to travel in the near to middle term, however in a capacity driven industry such as ours there will not be enough demand to translate that into profitability. “

He noted that: “It will be impossible for us to operate our businesses successfully until the pandemic passes or we find a reliable vaccine. In the interim, we will see many businesses go bankrupt and tens of thousands of jobs will be lost.”

For the full story, check out this week’s issue of CANADIAN TRAVEL PRESS.