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After two years of limited travel, Bay of Plenty travel agents are busy booking holidays, with one saying it is doing 50 a week.
But between the reduction in staff numbers while borders were closed and a skilled staff shortage, the pressure is on agents to keep up with demand.
YOU Travel Bethlehem managing director Kay Rogers said it had been inundated with inquiries from clients old and new.
Rogers said that was a reflection of people's pent-up demand to travel during the lockdown and border closure.
However, she said staff numbers had dropped by two-thirds since Covid-19 hit in 2020.
YOU Travel Bethlehem managing director Kay Rogers. Photo / George Novak
Many people were reluctant to return to the industry due to the stress and difficulties they experienced during the "unravelling period", she said.
"This means that we are seriously short-staffed across the industry."
But Rogers said business was better than it had been pre-Covid and the Pacific Islands, in particular, were popular due to short flight times, warm weather and perceived safer and more settled destinations.
Next year was starting to heat up for cruising, she said, and lots of retirees were headed to the United Kingdom and Europe to reconnect with family and friends.
When asked why people were headed overseas, she said: "Because they can."
She said it helped there was a lessened documentation requirement while travelling.
Trip times depended on destination. Between seven to 10 days for short haul and six to 12 weeks for a long haul.
Tanya Aitken is the House of Travel owner-operator for Pāpāmoa, The Crossing and Mount Maunganui.
House of Travel owner operator Pāpāmoa, The Crossing and Mount Maunganui Tanya Aitken.
She also said her teams had been "super busy" with bookings and business was back up to 2019 levels.
While there had been significant reductions in staff since the start of the pandemic, House of Travel was "rebuilding with vigour".
She said most industries were experiencing struggles in hiring experienced staff, but her way around this was by creating a cadetship, which she aimed to have running by November.
A full-time trainer had come on board to help the busy staff get "capable" people into the industry.
It was a very exciting time, she said.
"As soon as it feels safe enough, Kiwis are up and going."
Everywhere was popular: "we are sending people off to all corners of the Earth."
Helloworld Travel Rotorua owner Deborah Kay said business had been booming since border restrictions eased in April.
She said it was back to about 80 per cent of pre-Covid levels of business, averaging about 50 bookings a weeks in total.
helloworld Travel Rotorua owner Deborah Kay says business is booming. Photo / Laura Smith
Kay said she had needed to reduce her team from seven to four during the border closure.
Staff had been working part-time but Kay said she was grateful to be working full-time again and was looking to hire another employee.
"It's just a lot of extra hours and hard work."
There were a lot of new and returning clients, which Kay attributed to newly imposed rules and restrictions catching people out when they booked themselves.
"The process of travel booking is a lot more complicated."
The South Pacific was highly popular with people wanting a tropical holiday, she said, with Fiji and Rarotonga being destinations of choice.
Kay said people were generally staying on holiday longer than they would have pre-pandemic and were splashing out on higher quality services or products.
She used one example of a couple in their 60s travelling for a few months through Europe in a motorhome.
Rotorua House of Travel director Pam Turner said since the borders reopened it had been overwhelmed with travel inquiries.
"Which is fabulous given the two tough years we experienced with closed borders."
Turner said people were eager to reunite with family when borders initially re-opened but now it was the leisure travellers who were especially keen to enjoy an overseas holiday.
"Our turnaround time on quotes is a little longer than usual, given the number of inquiries we receive each day. We try to operate by appointment now so that we can balance our workload."
During the border closure, Turner said she had needed to reduce staff numbers from 12 to three and was now looking to recruit more again. But she said, as with most industries at the moment, it was difficult to find qualified staff.
"Whilst we have advertised extensively for staff, they are hard to find."
Fiji is a popular travel destination among those booking with travel agents.
It used to operate in a large office space on the corner of Fenton and Eruera Sts but since moved to a smaller premises above, which she said it was enjoying.
"We have joined forces with our BOP offices so that helps with staffing and sharing the workload around a little."
She agreed with Kay that travel was especially complex at the moment, and that had prompted a surge in new clientele that would have otherwise booked themselves.
"The benefits in booking with a travel professional is that we do all the research for you. If anything happens with flights, and there have been lots of changes lately, we are able to liaise directly with our clients.
"They don't have to wait on hold for the airlines, some people are waiting up to three hours to talk to an airline."
The most popular destinations have been Australia, Fiji and Rarotonga for a quick getaway.
But she said it had been sending people all over the world.
Travellers were from all age demographics, but there were a lot of younger clients doing their OE.
"New Zealanders are travellers, its in our DNA, and we have not been able to do something we love for two years so they have this pent-up desire to travel."
