Travel agent Lisa Dodds is calling for the Jobkeeper program to be extended to travel agents given they carry the weight of the cancellations due to Covid 19.
The industry is being urged to sign the petition which can be found here on change.org – https://www.change.org/p/travellers-extend-jobkeeper-for-travel-agency-agents-and-mobile-travel-agents-sole-traders
The petition states:
Travel Agents/Advisors whether Store Front or Sole Traders who are Mobile Travel Agents have been hit hard with Covid-19.
We were the voice for those who use Agents and advocates to get returns or credits for our clients wherever we could. That’s what we do, from start to finish. However, many of us also assisted those who booked elsewhere and were unsuccessful in achieving any contact at all with whom they had previously booked their travel arrangements. Many of us did this for “free”, to lessen the angst of many travellers whilst still looking after our own clients.
JobKeeper came along and was a ‘job saver’. Many of us do not get a wage and not do we get paid until the client has travelled; cancellations mean that our hours, days, weeks, months and even years of working on Clients/Passengers files, we do not and will not get paid for this work.
Yet when this all occurred, our workload for most of us not only doubled but, in some cases became four times or more than our normal workload. Mobile Agents were given the task of working on all their cancellations ‘alone’ and all for no pay. JobKeeper has been a lifeline to ensure we stay within our business’ and keep fighting the good fight for our passenger’s money and credits. (Plus those who were not our clients, but we assisted).
We were first hit and may potentially be last to recover – cancellations are still coming through daily!! Remember when you last booked that holiday and it was a good 18months to 2yrs before you went? That’s how long these cancellations could continue to roll in. We are snowed under and now with the chance that JobKeeper may cease in September, what happens then?
We are asking you to sign this petition in the hope our voice as a group will be heard in favour of enabling an extension, so our business can stay open and we can continue to work for so many affected by this. We don’t want to look for a new job and be retrained.
We are in travel and love our job, allow us to continue to do so. Remember when booking your quick getaway going through an Agent will allow them the courage to keep going, to put a meal on their family’s table and to continue to be a voice for our clients.
We don’t want to close our doors; we want to stay open.
Thanks for your time, signature and sharing this petition, as we fight for what is right. Keep our businesses alive and here on Australian soil.
Please share this and let’s see if we can be heard.
