The Government’s advice for New Zealanders is not to travel, meaning agents’ core business of outbound travel has dried up.
Brooker Travel Group operates the helloworld stores as well as a corporate travel arm of the business and managing director Andrew Carmody said it was facing a difficult new landscape.
"I’ve been in the business for 30 years — this is the toughest environment in 30 years.
"I’ve been through [the] GFC, Black Tuesday, Sars and 9/11 and this is like doing all four of them at the same time."
Staff were on reduced hours to match the wage subsidy and the business that was available.
"We have scaled the business for it to be sustainable.".
Mr Carmody said business available to his agents was largely in assisting people stuck in New Zealand trying to get home or New Zealanders stuck overseas.
The $400million to support the tourism sector announced in last week’s Budget was largely disappointing for Mr Carmody.
"Our industry has probably been the worst affected industry that I can think of.
"In a very quick space of time, due to Government actions, our ability to do our job was removed 100%."
But it was not only that — they had to then find refunds for clients with cancelled trips.
"So I’ve spent the last three or four weeks ... funding my staff to unwind business that had already been booked," he said.
Mr Carmody said Brooker Travel Group had been doing very well — potentially in its best year in business when "events outside of our control [meant] the brakes have been put on for a couple of months".
Domestic tourism was not going to save travel agencies, Mr Carmody said; they needed borders to open up again.
"We are mainly an offshore business.
"[Typically] New Zealanders do not book domestic travel with travel agents — New Zealanders just hop on a plane and
follow their nose."
Vincent George Travel Group owner and operator Rosann Connolly-George said she had some confidence in getting work through domestic travel.
Travel agents had a role to help travellers managing tourist operators that were closed or had reduced capacity, she said.
But it would not come close to covering outbound travel, which made up 90% of their revenue.
She agreed with Mr Carmody the Budget did little to ease the pain for agents.
"I know there’s several thousand now that are so impacted they can only rely on a small portion of the extended wage subsidy.
"I know there are the interest free loan operations but it really doesn’t even touch the sides for what a general travel agent, their overheads and things would begin to cost.
"I fear that there could be some that will close their doors and I fear there will be some that will look further afield to other types of employment."
Vincent George Travel Group, which employed about seven staff, was working hard to get refunds for its clients.
"I liken it to unravelling a very intricate jersey — grabbing all of those benefits for our clients that we can at this stage, getting ready to knit it all back up again.
"This is all basically goodwill work that we’re doing for our clients — and will be for the next two or three months it looks like."
House of Travel Dunedin retail manager Antony Boomer said agents were "working incredibly hard to facilitate refunds and amend itineraries for future trips".
The company was also hoping to help with domestic tourism and trips to Australia if a transtasman bubble was established, Mr Boomer said.
