Tui To Close 166 High Street Stores In The Uk And The R O I

[ECCOnoob]

18 hours ago, Thirsty Relic said:

Self imposed?  Well, only as far as those with internet access AND using it to book their holidays.  If someone books online and then grumbles about the store closed when they wanted to use it - yes, they share the blame. 

 

The pensioner without internet access (or other person like me with the internet but who books holidays in store) has to suffer, but is in no way to blame.

Yes and no.

 

I never quite buy the "what about pensioners" type of argument. The internet has certainly been increasingly commonplace in homes for over 20-years.    According to 2019 ONS figures whilst 99% of adults up to 44 years old had internet access it still noted that nearly half of over 75s also had to access. 

 

The numbers of people who are at such an elderly age they do not have concept of the internet and still have sufficient health and faculty to regularly be booking travel will be interesting.  Notwithstanding, even if certain people don't personally have access or use internet services - it is a high probability that they will know someone who can and does.

 

Of course not everyone wants to be forced to use online services but these are businesses and if their majority customers are not using physical shops then perhaps it is arguably fair for them to expect the minority customers to adapt. 

 

Like everything else, the travel industry has well and truly been hit by this virus taking some firms to the brink. The last thing they can afford is to be throwing money away on extremely expensive and overstaffed real estate. 

 

I have every sympathy for the staff  losing their jobs but personally I felt it was inevitable that at least some of the physical travel shops would go.  Thomas Cook might just have about limped on under a new owner but they always had a bigger scope and product range to the limited Thomson/TUI.  

Edited July 31, 2020 by ECCOnoob

[ECCOnoob]

5 hours ago, iansheff said:

I always used to look online for holidays and then go into the travel agents where usually they would match prices. I liked the fact that you got the tickets from the agents and didn't have to mess about printing your own off.

You raise another interesting point there about printing stuff off. That is another thing that is slowly becoming completely obsolete and another reason for the decline in necessity for any physical presence.

 

I must admit I also print off my foreign travel documents and airline tickets because in my mind I can't get over the "just in case" hump.  But I always see a significant number of people waving their smartphones over the airport barriers and scanning their online boarding passes.

 

Here in blighty I do exactly the same with train tickets and can't remember the last time I had or needed a printed one.  

 

I will leave it for debate whether this is a good or a bad thing.  Maybe there is an argument we are becoming far too virtual in our world.... But it is certainly going to be a challenge to stop it now.  

[davyboy]

Ecco noob wrote

I must admit I also print off my foreign travel documents and airline tickets because in my mind I can't get over the "just in case" hump.  But I always see a significant number of people waving their smartphones over the airport barriers and scanning their online boarding passes.

The panic that ensues when you can't find that e mail with the travel documents on your phone has to be experienced!!!

[willman]

Continuing the printing theme, i use Groupon on occasion and one of the restaurants i visit has no internet access,so it is a panic when the email won't open with the voucher on it.(i used to print them but the OH gets embarrassed at using a discount voucher).

I've just had to pre book for some English Heritage tours and they now accept tickets on your phone.