The Road Ahead
“A bend in the road is not the end of the road”
Covid-19 is ripping 2020 a new one! The travel sector has been in a state of paralysis for an entire quarter, and various travel companies are at serious risk of insolvency. With millions off work since March on the government’s furlough scheme, airlines are only now beginning to resume a limited schedule of international flights. Indeed, the jury is still out on our trips scheduled to depart at the end of Summer. Ultimately, if it isn't safe to operate at a particular destination, or if travel restrictions render an itinerary undeliverable, then we won't hesitate to cancel or postpone a trip once we’re satisfied it can’t go ahead.
As a competent tour operator, we rely heavily on official travel advice from the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office, as well as guidance from ABTA and our in-country teams. In an ideal world we’d obviously love each of our trips to run as planned, but naturally the health & safety of our participants comes first. If we do take the decision to cancel any trips, participants who have met their fundraising commitments will be offered a free deferral or transfer to an alternative trip of their choice, departing in either 2021 or 2022.
For those whose fundraising hit a brick wall back when the lockdown measures abruptly came into force in March, and who unfortunately couldn't reach their target, we worked collaboratively with our amazing charity partners to implement a deferral scheme for our international university trips, allowing participants the chance to postpone their trips to either 2021 or 2022 at a reduced fee. The reason we sadly couldn't offer free deferrals across the board this year was essentially two-fold: (1) partly due to some unexpected costs we incurred last year, and (2) partly due to the way our existing business model was set up.
(1) 2019 was a relatively regular travel season by all appearances, but if you were to scratch beneath the surface and scrutinise our balance sheets, you'd find two significant expenses on the books which left us very much in the red. The first was the complete re-booking of our Everest Base Camp flights, necessitated by the unprecedented collapse of Jet Airways last April; the second was a system of bad weather on Everest that resulted in the majority of our expeditions being stranded in Lukla awaiting an internal flight back to the capital following their trek. Re-booking scores of international return flights from Nepal at short notice set us back tens of thousands of pounds also, so I think it as being fair to say that lady luck was most definitely not on our side with our EBC flights last year.
(2) Due to the way our supplier agreements were originally drawn up, we’ve always been liable for significant up-front payments to set up and deliver the tour package. When covid struck, this regrettably meant we simply weren’t in a position to refund all participants or defer everyones’ trips free-of-charge. It was an incredibly tough decision for us, but one that had to be made to ensure the continuity of our operations. We of course offered as many options to participants as possible, and we're so sorry for the small proportion who weren’t in a position to opt into April’s deferral scheme at the time, or who later wished to do so but couldn't. Spare a thought, however, for the rationale behind setting up our commercial contracts this way, which was ultimately to protect and sustain the livelihoods of our in-country suppliers. These relatively hefty up-front payments have over the years kept income flowing to the families and communities of our guides, porters and support staff during their low seasons, when they receive little-to-no additional revenue. We consider these staff part of the Choose a Challenge family, and without them there would be no trips!
As you know, Choose a Challenge is one of the few operators who genuinely use local resources for our challenges, rather than promote this tired-old ‘white saviour’ image of privileged westerners coming over to lead treks. Many of our participants take genuine comfort and even pride knowing that a significant proportion of their trip costs literally go to these local communities and families. We actively support porter welfare through our Tanzanian ground agent’s affiliation with the Mount Kilimanjaro Porters Society (MKPS), and the principles of fair pay and weight limitations are applied at each of our challenge destinations. I could ramble on for some time about our commitment to sustainable travel, but let’s rain check that for now.
Going forward, we’ve pledged to our charity and university partners to change policy in order to safeguard this year’s participants in the event of ongoing uncertainty, difficulties fundraising, or if they simply decide not to travel next year. Accordingly, anyone signed up to a 2021 trip can, for any reason, defer to 2022 free-of-charge, up until 10 weeks before their scheduled departure date. The way we've done this is by actively reducing our exposure to hefty up-front supplier payments, to ensure we have the financial backing to absorb any such costs in the years ahead. Having spoken with our in-country teams, they are each confident that business will resume in the months ahead, and are now putting measures in place so that they no longer have to rely on significant up-front payments from Choose a Challenge. How many companies across all industries can honestly say they’ve protected their supply chains this way?
Some challenge tour operators claim to offer even better value travel. Personally, I would be wary of any itinerary advertised without flights included. Not only can this affect your entitlement to legal protection if the package goes wrong, but you also shoulder all the risk of any airline changes or cancellations prior to departure, in which case the travel company takes no responsibility for getting you to the starting point of the itinerary. You may eventually recover the costs from your travel insurer, but if you're forced to re-schedule or re-purchase flights at short notice, you could easily pay twice as much as your advanced fare. Here at Choose a Challenge, we do offer international trips without flights included, which significantly decreases your fundraising target, but we do implore participants to choose wisely.
Going back to the Lukla incident last year, a vivid memory of the experience at the time was the boss exclaiming "Well. That's the nature of doing business." He was right, of course, but it struck me that it's also the nature of doing right by your travellers. No one appreciates those protections that a reputable ABTA member with an ATOL provides until they are needed. Well, this time, they were very much needed by our participants, and we safely got everyone back to the UK in one piece (albeit a little later than planned). Without these protections, customers are solely reliant on the terms of their travel insurance policy, and even if they pay out it certainly won’t prevent you having to absorb all the costs of repatriation up-front. A stressful time for some of our travellers, no doubt, but a great example of why you'll always be safe travelling with Choose a Challenge.
Our life and soul is taking young fundraisers around the world on epic adventures! We were the very first company to break into the charity challenge market more than a decade ago, and we’re committed to supporting the missions of each of our charity partners (last year, we helped raise over £1.7 million for these incredible causes). We value our customers and partners beyond measure, and we try to repay that value in the competitive pricing we offer. We've pledged over these next 12-24 months to put all our effort into re-shaping the business and re-building those amazing relationships with RAGs all over the country: That is what’s seen Choose a Challenge become synonymous with student adventure travel, and it’s led to thousands and thousands of young people embarking on a life-changing journey with us. Join us in 2021 and look forward to making a real difference.
