Fully integrated tour operator and the only Canadian company to own a hotel chain in sun destinations, Sunwing is living the pandemic on its own terms.
Colin Hunter, chairman of the board and founder of the Sunwing Travel Group, granted his first interview to a French-language media on Saturday since the start of the pandemic. Encountered between two musical performances, after an absence on stage of nearly two years, the one who also bears the label of “president-crooner Speaks of ups and downs, of a roller-coaster demand. He dares to foresee a return to stability somewhere in February or March and a prepandemic normality from the summer of 2022.
“We have to be optimistic. But things can happen at any time. He gives the example of the Omicron variant, whose announcement of existence on November 26 had an immediate effect on reservations. The recovery in demand for sun destinations was well felt, then there was a break-out. But the pace is starting to pick up, he says. “We will have to learn to live with this virus as long as vaccination coverage is not generalized” globally.
With a portfolio of 34 hotels owned or managed by the Blue Diamond brand and a capacity of more than 32,200 beds, the integrated tour operator has not experienced the pandemic in the same way as its Canadian competitors. According to figures released by its 49% shareholder, TUI Group, Sunwing had to contend with an occupancy rate that fell from 70% to 51% between the fiscal years 2020 and 2021 ended September 30, a statistic that he said. However, it should be seen in the context of an 84% increase in its hotel offer in the meantime.
The 2021 financial year obviously ended with an operating loss. However, this was similar to that of the previous year, which included five months of “normal” activity. There was a shutdown of activities in Canada, recalls Colin Hunter. The tempo during the year, however, came from the United States. The Americans imposed market logic, with demand growing in the hundreds of percentage points. “Normally, the US market is quite responsive and sensitive to global shocks. With the pandemic, it was the other way around. The chairman of the board is delighted that the hotel division got away with “good numbers” and that there were few related job cuts in the destinations concerned.
Sunwing also has to live with the logistical challenges of supply chains, which do not affect airlines. Particularly when it comes to replacement parts, what could take a day can now require a delivery time of three to four days. Precious time for an airline.
Then Omicron
Omicron, however, came out as a reminder that governments can only have immunization and quickly become crippled by the data. International Air Transport Association chief executive Willie Walsh last week urged political leaders to science-based decision making, believing they had overreacted to the Omicron variant. “We cannot close everything with each appearance of a new variant”, he underlined.
At the end of November, the World Health Organization (WHO) also called on governments to adopt a scientific approach based on risk assessment. During a briefing on Omicron for Member States, the WHO Director General said he understood “the concern of all countries to protect their citizens against a variant that we do not yet fully understand. I am equally concerned that several Member States are introducing general and brutal measures which are neither evidence-based nor effective in themselves, and which will only worsen inequalities […] We call on all Member States to take rational measures proportional to the risk, in accordance with the International Health Regulations ”, the reference legal instrument for the WHO and the signatory countries, reads a text from Agence France -Hurry.
In Canada, with the data on this variant which remains very fragmented, many evoke the confusion of federal guidelines, and wonder if Ottawa has not also acted in haste by adding an arrival test even for adequately vaccinated travelers. . Not to mention these repeated warnings from the federal Minister of Health to Canadians wishing to travel. At the very least, Colin Hunter believes there should be confidence in those vaccinated, believing that the government has a capacity to track.
It supports the industry position which advocates a risk assessment approach. To add that the Canadian transportation and travel industry has ultimately not been adequately represented and defended within government since the start of the pandemic.
Regarding the 2021-2022 season, the one that focuses its activities on sun destinations plans to deploy 70% of its pre-pandemic capacities. In Quebec, construction of Sunwing’s regional headquarters on land purchased in Laval had just been completed when the pandemic struck. The building will cement the concentration, here, of Quebec activities related to administration, operations, marketing, customer relations and the call center.