With JobKeeper now finished and international borders not reopening until later this year (maybe), April 1 has devastatingly seen more good people in the travel industry lose their jobs or close their businesses through absolutely no fault of their own. If you’re one of the unlucky ones, I hope these words at least bring you some solace and perspective to help you move forward.
Normally, today, April 1 would be a day reserved for sharing April fool jokes, but for all the obvious reasons, nothing feels especially funny this year.
In light of so many more wonderful people within our beloved industry losing their jobs this week or being forced to close businesses through no fault of their own, the only fools I can see are within the Australian federal government.
So, to all of you out there who now find yourselves in this dreadful position, I just wanted to share a few personal words to hopefully send a message of solace and hope.
The travel industry is unique in that it attracts and nurtures people who have a love for something far bigger and more meaningful than just doing a day-to-day job.
Our collective desire for travel and making it happen comes from the simple fact that we all understand and appreciate that the world is an incredible place to be explored, shared, learned from and respected.
As it stands, the industry we represent is shattered into countless pieces and our onward journey has been delayed.
But we will repair it and soon the journey will resume again, with different routes and challenges to solve and opportunities to embrace by re-connecting the world-sized puzzle together once more.
And when it does, it’s going to need talented, skilled and passionate people like you to help reboot the whole show with purpose, ideas and drive.
Your knowledge of the world and how it all fits together cannot be replicated.
Your passion, creativity, care and energy for making people’s dreams come true can never be automated.
Your networks, connections and friendships will never be broken.
Your incredible memories of all that you’ve been lucky enough to experience (so far) in travel will stay with you forever.
Oh, and by the way, in case you hadn’t realised yet, your expert skills and experience will also be incredibly valued by employers outside of travel too.
From your high-levels of empathetic customer service to problem-solving and dealing with stressful situations and extreme levels of adversity (Hello the last 12 months for starters), remember that you have had real-time exposure to so many scenarios that many other people would not have.
Be sure to back yourself and wow them with your worldy knowledge and experience.
But most of all, look after yourself as the number one priority, reach out to your industry colleagues for whatever you need to stay connected and remember, you are worthy and you are amazing.
Good luck and I hope to see you on the other side of all this mess.
Matt.
P.s Feel free to join over 6,000 of your industry colleagues past and present to stay connected on our #TogetherInTravel closed Facebook group here.