Three months into his role as CTA Chair, Peter Jackson caught up with Robert Shaw to find out more about the organisation’s current activities and future plans
As we begin to emerge from the seemingly endless forced hiatus brought about by the pandemic, much of the coach industry is still in limbo. With the Government’s Covid-19 roadmap now in place, organisations like the Coach Tourism Association (CTA) will play a critical role in supporting coach travel firms during their return to fully-fledged operation.
Spearheading the CTA during this period will be Robert Shaw, the association’s Chair and Director of Coventry-based family firm Harry Shaw – which specialises in coach holidays and day trips. He was appointed as Chair in December 2020, succeeding John Wales, and since then he has noticed holiday bookings increase amongst member operators. “Confidence is key – it underpins everything we do in business,” he said. “Once confidence goes, business goes, but fortunately it is coming back.
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“Everybody reported booking spikes on the day the Covid ‘roadmap’ was announced. Importantly, I think confidence is especially returning to what is seen as the typical age profile of the coach holidaymaker – it’s coming back perhaps more in that age bracket than in others.
“The first vaccine was given on 8 December, and there was a definite rise in booking enquiries after that. But then we had the new strains of the virus appear just after Christmas, which was a setback. We’ve also had various announcements from ministers which have raised questions over whether it’s even legal to book a holiday, which caused a lot of concern. Hopefully now there’s a roadmap in place, things will become clearer.”
Period of transition
I asked Robert how he felt about taking on the role of CTA Chair at what is a critical time for the industry. “The word ‘unprecedented’ is very much overused at the moment, but this really is the perfect storm isn’t it? We haven’t faced anything like this in recent history,” he began. “But I’ve worked in the industry for over 40 years, so I just hope that my experience can help. I suppose in a way it’s a good place to start, because we’ve virtually got a clean sheet! Most coach tour operators haven’t done an awful lot in the last 12 months, so the only thing they can do now is grow.
“I also believe there are great opportunities out there if the pandemic can be brought under control. I used the quote ‘out of adversity comes great opportunity’ in a presentation I made recently, and there are opportunities out there. I think this is a chance to perhaps reposition ourselves in the market; we’re certainly getting a lot of publicity at the moment which we wouldn’t get in normal times, and people are starting to look at coach holidays again as a viable and attractive option.
It is a critical time for the industry, but it’s also a time of great opportunity. With the vaccine being rolled out very quickly, I think it’s a time of great hope as well. I’m quite excited about the future now.
“I think it’s an exciting time, because a lot of people who wouldn’t otherwise have done so are starting to think about taking a coach holiday. Obviously, the market’s changed over the last 12 months – several of the major players have disappeared or been bought out – but I think the market as a whole will grow after Covid.
“It still isn’t clear how soon we’ll be able to travel abroad, and coach holidays offer great staycations; coach operators always feature UK holidays as part of their programme, so they’re perfectly placed to take advantage of the revived interest in UK holidays.”
Supporting operators
Discussing how the CTA plans to support coach operators over the coming months, Robert explained: “We’ve got a very good website which is constantly updated. We are a great source of information for coach tour operators, so that they can find out what’s going on and have what are very detailed documents broken down into bitesize pieces which are easier to understand. There’s so much information out there, but you don’t need it all! I see part of the role of the CTA as being able to dissect that information into bitesize pieces so they can understand how it applies to them and how they can use it. The goal is to provide simple answers to complicated problems.
“At the moment we’ve got two dates in mind, 12 April and 17 May. 12 April is when we can consider starting to look at operating day trips again, but the situation is still a little unclear. All I can advise operators to do is to check our website for the latest updates on the situation.
“One thing that is clear is that from 17 May we can start to operate UK holidays again, although Europe is still uncertain. I think it’s good that we’ve been given so much notice about that as well, it’s giving us time to plan.
“Another way we’ll be helping is continuing to hold virtual events to keep people’s spirits up. We had a great Burns Night event recently which was very well received; everybody got a free miniature of whisky which seemed to go down well! We had another event on 17 March for St. Patrick’s Day, and courtesy of Tourism Ireland we gave away Irish coffee kits. The event featured a unique performance by Riverdance. These things are very popular, and they’re great ways of keeping people’s spirits up and getting us all together. I know we’re all only little thumbprints on a screen, but it reminds you that you’re not alone in the current situation.
“We’re also joining in all the lobbying efforts to make the Government aware of the contribution our sector makes to the economy. I know that an awful lot has been written about this previously, but we like to think we’re part of a movement that made sure that local authorities recognise coach holidays as being part of the leisure industry and in need of help.
“By the way, I think the CPT is doing a good job! It’s probably quite a contentious thing to say at the moment, but from what I can see they do an awful lot behind the scenes and they’re presenting Government with a myriad of facts and figures; the research and the work involved in that is immense.
I think the phrase ‘you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink’ rings true here. I do think the Government is aware of the situation in our industry – Baroness Vere recently made it clear that she understood the distinction between various types of coach operator.
“I know there’s a lot of unrest in the industry, and I fully understand that when other sectors seem to be getting help and we aren’t. I was reading about the Culture Recovery Fund recently which is £1.57 billion – opera and ballet is getting help, but the coach industry isn’t! I don’t want to go into the reasons behind that – I’m not qualified to comment on it – but in layman’s terms it does seem a bit perverse sometimes the way funding is distributed.
“We’re also providing PR help to try and bring coach holidays to the fore; a lot more travel writers are taking interest in the UK product at the moment because international travel is difficult or impossible. There’s been some great publicity recently, like Johnsons Coach Travel being featured on The One Show and Alfa/Bibbys on BBC Breakfast, which was fantastic for the industry. We get a lot of requests now from journalists who want to write stories about coach holidays – there’s been a lot more interest recently than in previous years, I think.
“We provide a listening post for coach operators too, so that they can share their experiences with us and other operators who can give advice and guidance if needed. Over the next few months, we’ll be ramping up all of our activities as things return to normal. Particularly, we want to focus on promoting the green credentials of our industry, which really are a unique selling point.”
Robert agreed that the industry has, on the whole, banded together during the pandemic, and added that he believes lobbying efforts haven’t gone unnoticed: “I think, long-term, it’ll probably have a good effect. The Government is acutely aware of the sector. But everybody is screaming at them for funds at the moment.
“Long-term, this might make them more aware of the sector, of our green credentials and of the ways we help people in many other sectors. You’ve got to look long-term sometimes, and it might be that all of this lobbying is going to have an effect and an influence in the future even more than it is doing now.
“I do think it’s important for the industry to get together and provide a joined-up, coordinated response to issues that affect us, rather than a divided one. I don’t want to get involved in the politics of the various trade organisations; I just think the most important thing is that coach operators can survive this period. The most crucial thing is that operators get their coaches back on the road – not which organisations they belong to or what Zoom meetings they attend! How we get there is kind of irrelevant, but we’ve got to make sure coaches are back on the road come 17 May.”
Finding the balance
“The CTA Chair is an unpaid, part-time role, which is partly why our membership fees are great value,” said Robert, explaining how he’s balanced his CTA duties with those at Harry Shaw.
“There are an awful lot of unsung heroes at the CTA, including Helen Bowron and Steve and Sue Rooney. They do a fantastic job, and they do the vast majority of the background work that goes into running the organisation. So, in normal times, it hopefully won’t take up too much of my time! I’m just doing it for fun really.
“Harry Shaw has been hibernating for a while, but there’s a great team of people there running the business as well. My brother John has been involved in the coach business for 40 years, and we have an industry expert on board, Chris Blyth. I think the phrase ‘none of us is as smart as all of us’ applies here!
“Perhaps the CTA involvement will be less in normal times than it is at the moment but luckily, while Harry Shaw is hibernating, I have more free time anyway – I’ve been doing quite a lot of presentations and interviews.
“The role of CTA Chair is something I’m really happy to do; if I can add anything to the industry or help it in any way I will. It’s been a great industry to be involved with for 40 years and I just want to see it carry on really – if I can contribute towards that I’m more than happy.”
Finally, I asked Robert how he ensured the family firm would survive Covid-19. “Let me start with a quote: ‘Life is simple, really, but we insist on making it complicated.’ Confucius said that back in 471 BC – that’s Before Christ, not Before Coronavirus! People complicate business unnecessarily in my opinion,” he replied.
“Banks and their advisors in these times will suggest getting management consultants in, which I always find amusing in a strange way. They’re going to find it difficult to justify their fees this time, because nobody’s ever faced anything like this before. They generally base their opinions on what they’ve learnt elsewhere, but this is unprecedented. The management consultants will be called in to crawl all over businesses, but I don’t really see what they can contribute at times like this.
“The basic advice must be to look at your profit/loss account, and identify the potential cost-saving areas. It’s important to make use of any Government grants and support schemes as well, and use what is effectively a sabbatical to implement any new ideas you might have. You can also see if your business has any ‘underlying health issues’ as well.
“Covid has called into question the way coach operators buy a vehicle to do a specific contract for a tour operator, for example; they’re often high-specification vehicles and they put the tour operator’s livery on it too. However, there’s no guarantee from the tour operator of how many days it’ll be hired for etc – I think it’s time for people to start looking at things like that and seeing if their business model is viable going forward.
“In my opinion, many industry problems stem from two sources: low prices for home to school contracts (which are constantly negotiated down by local authorities) and coach manufacturers needing to keep production lines going, therefore encouraging operators to take on vehicles they can’t make a profit with as they don’t have enough work to use them on.
“On a personal level, I’m using the time to try and new skills – particularly new IT skills – and I’m learning Spanish believe it or not! I speak a little bit of French and a little bit of German, but didn’t know any Spanish so I’m doing an online course. I’m really enjoying it; it takes me back to my old school days! I’d recommend it to anyone.
“It’s all been forced on us, this ‘sabbatical,’ but the key thing is to try and make use of it to improve yourself and improve your business,” he concluded.
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