Home office, travel cancellations and a lot of red tape
The first few weeks were definitely not easy. In the end, we were almost only involved in keeping operations at Eurofun going. Business considerations, labour law issues, organising laptops, VPN etc for home office – and at the same time a lot of challenging tasks related to our tours and guests: travel cancellations instead of new bookings, ‘lockdown’ instead of the start of the season. With a reduced team working from home, we tried to process all cancellations, rebooking and credit notes as best we could. We hoped that many of our guests would choose not to cancel their trips and instead postpone them. Because credits instead of refunds are our economic lifeblood at the moment, we were and are very grateful for each of the numerous encouraging pieces of personal feedback from our guests!
At first meaningless and empty…
Personally, the time after the first days and weeks, in which we all just had to ‘function’ and follow new daily tasks and measures every day was almost even more difficult. We had the first time to think: where are we headed? What is still to come? How are we coping? We had to admit to ourselves that we have to lead our company through the worst crisis in existence and that we face a challenge in a whole new dimension. Maybe we will see a whole season pass with little or no travel? How can we continue to work without endangering the health of our employees and guests? Our heads were either buzzing with ideas or feeling weary between intense discussions on top of sleepless and worrying nights…
…now hopeful!
Perhaps the most suitable antidote to ‘corona glom’ helped: Don’t let yourself fall into passivity, rather tackle issues and problems actively and with confidence!
A few question marks have vanished into thin air, some of the implemented and announced easing of necessary protective measures in Austria and Germany allow us to look to this season with more optimism. Decision-making generally remains difficult, as some rules and statements change almost daily. There is no real predictability this year!
Nevertheless: We firmly believe in an active travel season for 2020! If ‘only’ in Austria and Germany, but what does that mean? Home is the most beautiful, we can have ‘active holidays at home’. We have created new short breaks for this, so that our guests and cycle or hike quickly. We have extended the season in numerous regions, so you can enjoy the hopefully sunny autumn to the full.
We are making the best of it – you too?
Normally, we would be busy with the start of the season, at the moment we look out of the window at the wonderful spring weather with a sigh. Perfect for cycling and hiking, but unfortunately our guests have to stay at home. We are aware this travel season will definitely be a completely different, new, very special one. Right now, a change of scenery is good with some time spent in nature to clear your head. Even if we are already preparing for a late start to the season and are already planning tours for 2021: we take this time together with our partners and family. We re-charge our batteries and of course dream of active tours this year or next.
