Published on Thursday, January 21, 2021

Advantage praises Saga move to make vaccinations compulsory

Advantage Travel Partnership has praised Saga's move to make vaccinations compulsory for customers and hinted that other operators - particulalry those with older customers - could follow suit.

Chief Executive Julia Lo Bue-Said welcomed the move by the over 50s specialist, arguing it will provide travellers with greater levels of comfort and confidence.

But she suggested during a BBC phone-in that it may only be a short-term measure.

The comments came as Saga said all its customers must be vaccinated two weeks before their departure date.

"Our industry is in a desperate state so anything we can do to support confidence, and help customers with confidence….and what Saga has done is just that," she said.

"It's a short-term measure to ensure that age group have the confidence to travel, and they are desperate to do that.

"That's a really positive bit of a news, and anything that enables us to get back to some sort of normality is positive and I fully support it."

Asked whether Saga's policy will be adopted by other travel firms, Lo Bue-Said suggested there is likely to be a 'combination' of approaches.

"Saga attracts a particular demographic and for their age group, the majority of which are in the at-risk category, then I think it suits that demographic and fills them with confidence," she said.

"But I don't think the vaccine is the silver bullet, certainly not for the travel industry. It's a moment in time, and a measure to enable us to resume travel safely when the time is right.

"It has to go hand-in-hand with other measures, other protocols. We have got to see a combination of things to make us feel confident about we go about our business."

Lo Bue-Said praised the cruising sector for its approach, saying it has invested millions on safety protocols.

"They are constantly looking at improving those protocols and are one of the only industries that fully controls the end-to-end process and can manage that whole experience," she said.

Sjhe added that international protocols remain a vital issue.

"It's great what we do now….but you are going to destinations where maybe the generally safety protocols are not as great as what we have, so how is that controlled and how is that going to be managed, and how do we ensure we provide customers with safety and confidence?"

Ensuring documentation - such as proof of a vaccination - is recorded digitally will also be among the operational challanges, she said.