Travel Counsellors’ head of cruise, Janet Whittingham, gives her take on how the industry can come together to support clients and fellow workers in difficult times.

With the industry still feeling the shock of the demise of Thomas Cook and the uncertainty for many of its employees and customers, my heart truly goes out to all. To lose such an established business, which helped put package holidays and cruises on the map, is incredibly sad.

I was privileged to be involved with our well-trained crisis team when the news struck, as we eagerly assisted our Travel Counsellors in securing new flights, holidays and cruises for our customers.

My thoughts turned to our cruise clients and the effect on the Thomas Cook flights connected to our tailor-made packages and any third-party operator bookings. I wrote at once to our cruise partners to ask if we could all reflect on this unusual situation and come together, as often the cruise community does, to look after customers in the best way possible.

At the time of writing it’s great to hear that cruise lines are offering the option for forward bookings to be moved to new ownership, continuing to provide the holidays clients were so looking forward to.

Travel Counsellors also joined many in the industry in supporting Thomas Cook employees. We have welcomed Thomas Cook employees to our headquarters in Manchester, providing a place to come together, pause, reflect and plan for the future, including staging events across the country featuring careers advice, CV writing and wellbeing support.

With 35 years in the travel and cruise business, I too have reflected personally on my career over the years – how I had been made redundant once and was able to believe in myself again through the support of the wonderful people in the cruise sector and beyond.

Come together

I strongly believe that Thomas Cook staff – with a wealth of cruise knowledge – must be championed to continue to work in an industry they love. We all have a role to play to make sure we find new avenues for them to stay close to our mutual customers and continue to offer the best holiday experiences.

The industry needs these amazing people to stay and we all have a duty of care to offer them an olive branch of hope.

I have had the pleasure to showcase what we can offer to Thomas Cook cruise experts and how they can continue to look after their regular cruise clients by launching their own business, sharing the large portfolio of cruise partners we work closely with.

It has been heart-warming to hear of so many of the Thomas Cook employees finding themselves again, whether that’s through Travel Counsellors or different cruise specialists – and we must all continue our mission to keep them on board (if you’ll pardon the pun).

Our duty of care is to future-proof our industry and to continue to fly the flag for cruising holidays – a mission that I truly take to heart.