By Rezdy — 18 Mar 2020

Travel has been hit particularly hard in Australia with Bushfires and Floods but now the worldwide COVID-19 is fast becoming the biggest issue I have seen in my working career. This situation isn’t going away any time soon, trade borders will continue to close as COVID-19 cases increase. The US closed borders to Europe, Canada closed borders to non-Canadian’s and Americans and many cities around the world are in a state of shutdown. Hotels and Tour Operators are seeing forward bookings cancel at a very rapid rate and the businesses that will do well are the ones who are being proactive in their approach. 

In these tough times, it’s important to think and act quickly to avoid cash flow issues or even worse insolvency. Here are a few of the best pieces of advice I have seen:

1. Firstly any crises creates opportunity

If you come from a mental framing of opportunity, it’s easier to solve the problem with a clear mind and quite often you will find alternate solutions you hadn’t thought of

2. Manage costs hard 

Strip out unnecessary expenses and make your business lean to withstand lower revenue. Start with large fixed costs to see where you can get temporary relief

3. Get all of your staff involved 

Communicate honestly and openly, having more minds working to solve the issue is better than yours alone. 

4. Strip away emotion and become a leaner operation 

It can be daunting in the short-term, longer-term your business will be stronger for the changes you make today.

5. Lead from the front, encourage empathetic conversations

All relationships start with empathy, having hard conversations with suppliers and customers coming from both sides point of view means better relationships and quite often enlightening conversation that helps both parties

Great businesses will not only survive but come out the other side of this pandemic stronger, with a stronger sense of purpose and clear policies, processes and systems in place to ensure continued success.

If you found ‘Creating live virtual tours: A guide for tour operators to generate business during COVID-19’ useful, you may also like  ‘Creating live virtual tours: A guide for tour operators to generate business during COVID-19‘.

Written by – Michael Kelly – Global Head of Sales at Rezdy

When Michael isn’t speaking with our customers, you can find him swimming, playing a team sport or heading to the gym. An avid traveler, he loves snowboarding and enjoys winding down over a nice glass of red from one of the 100+ boutique wineries he has visited.

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