Late 2022, our two-month winter outbound tours and the number of participants in each tour soared past the 2019 level, something out of our expectation, indeed.

Although it is said that chances are for people who are prepared, we have to admit that no matter how adequately prepared we are, we may still face unforeseen circumstances that will catch us totally unprepared!

Even though we have more outbound tours now, coordination in various aspects (personnel and resources) could still be lacking.

For instance, a new employee who is supposed to start work today may not turn up for work at the last minute, or the group tickets booked with an airline company have to be rescheduled at the eleventh hour, forcing us to top up the price difference or opt to cancel the flight!

Additionally, the spa hotel notifies that the room package inclusive of dinner will no longer provide food now due to labour shortage, just as restaurants we used to patronise in the vicinity have closed down one after another.

Such unexpected changes are very common in the tourist industry nowadays. Of course, we cannot rule out the possibility of human errors in some cases, too.

By the way, for people specialising in outbound tours like us, the biggest resources are the manpower and air tickets.

Now that the business is back, we will have to start recruiting new people while at the same time finalising group ticketing with major airline companies’ sales reps.

Anyway, these two things are the most challenging tasks post-pandemic because people tend to shy away from the travel industry while group tickets are hard to come by these days!

The thing is, if a travel agency plans to increase the number of tour groups and sell the tickets, then the above two factors must be addressed, first and foremost.

Sometimes I really feel sorry for our loyal customers. This is indeed a major problem and responsibility all outbound travel agencies must shoulder. The customers have made the payment and they expect us to deliver the service without excuse whatsoever.

I believe many consumers may understand the so-called new normal sequela after the coronavirus pandemic, because the same issues of understaffing, logistics lag and runaway inflation are faced by almost every industry worldwide.

Life is tough for everybody now, and all we can do is to learn to adapt as we move on.

Having just finished with an unprecedented surge in tour activities in December, we now have to deal with the CNY peak holiday season. The Chinese New Year this year comes a little early and we have a relatively short period of just around ten days to deploy our festive tour groups. 

Notably, this is the first CNY after most anti-virus travel restrictions have been lifted, and everyone is rushing to go for holidays during the short festive season.

To complicate things further, the post-pandemic new normals start to creep in one after another, such as delayed flights that keep passengers waiting for hours at the airport and of course, late arrival at their destinations. 

By the time we finally touch down at our destination airport, long lines of passengers have already formed in front of immigration counters.

Indeed, such commotion is ubiquitous at all airports across the world and we simply have to be a little more patient! 

And when we finally clear the immigration, we have missed the regular meal time and the restaurant we booked is now closed. As if that’s not enough, there is an unexpected cold snap with a winter storm ravaging outside… 

Moreover, due to lack of professional coach drivers, lorry drivers unfamiliar with tour routes have to be called up.

To make things worse, seasoned tour guides who have not been taking a tour group for two or three years and had to take up different jobs to feed their families, have become both physically and mentally exhausted, so much so that they are completely at a loss standing in front of the guests on the bus. 

Under the post-pandemic new normal, these coach drivers often find themselves the targets of the wrath of picky customers, some threatening even to take them to court! Of course, there are other more understanding travel buddies who would offer a few comforting words of encouragement. 

To vent their frustration, some of the more aggressive customers would instantly take to Facebook to keep blasting the company, followed by an ultimatum to the travel agency boss: If I don’t get a satisfactory answer from you soon, I will get the social media to do me justice! 

To be honest, we as travel operators are extremely fearful of cyberbullying, as people unfamiliar with the situation will start passing their own judgements, and this could easily kill the branding we have taken so many years and hard work to build.

Perhaps this is the new social system of a new generation of people, and it seems that old generation players like us will have to learn to adapt to the paradigm shift for our own survival. 

Although consumers still book their tickets online, make their own ground arrangements, plan their own itineraries, and face the same uncertainty, at least they are willing to bear the consequences if something goes wrong.

However, if they have entrusted everything to the travel agency, anything that doesn’t work out quite well will be conveniently blamed on the travel agency!

Undeniably, we have to ready ourselves constantly to take the blame for something which probably even isn’t our fault! 

As a matter of fact, we are well aware that organising a tour group after the pandemic will invariably put us face-to-face with the challenges from various factors of uncertainty. That said, we still try our best to minimise the errors.

Most importantly, even during such trying times we still do our job conscientiously with a spirit of professionalism and dedication, taking our travel buddies all around the world to enjoy the good food and views.

Honestly, my greatest wish is that you will always stand by us, enjoying the itineraries we have worked out for you and experiencing together with us such unusual new normals and new changes in travelling. 

As director Chong Keat Aun said during a recent dinner gathering with Sin Chew Daily‘s opinion writers: We should count our blessings being able to live safely. What do you say? 

In short, no matter how well we have planned ahead of time, we will never be able to keep up with the unexpected changes, and more changes that will come following a phone call thereafter.

(Lee San is Founder and Group Executive Chairman of Apple Vacations. He has travelled to 132 countries, six continents, and enjoys sharing his travel stories and insights. He has also authored five books.)