Never a better time for a holiday

By Bianca Hall

Feb 5, 2023

Getaway: Travel consultant Meg Dobson and Helloworld Travel managing director Jenifer Ornsby are daydreaming of their next holiday.

If the past few years have taught Seymour residents anything, it would be to make hay while the sun shines.

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Having only just recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns, Seymour was hit with October’s floods and months of clean-up and recovery.

Now more than ever, people are ready for a break.

For Helloworld Travel managing director Jenifer Ornsby, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was huge, with the store closing in November 2020 and staff working remotely.

“We had to cancel pretty much every departure ... bookings that we had been working on for two years,” she said.

Helloworld reopened its doors in Seymour’s Station St mall in late February 2022 and since then business has been booming.

For Helloworld, February is typically the busiest month of the year. However, March last year took the cake as the busiest month in 10 years.

For those looking to get away, but who are yet to book anything, Ms Ornsby suggests looking towards the September school holidays.

“June-July, if you havn’t booked already, you are paying more, so people are really booking in advance,” she said.

Top destinations for Ms. Ornsby’s clients are a combination of old favourites and some newer destinations that are seeing a boom in popularity.

“Vietnam is big and Japan is huge at the moment,” she said.

“Japan has hit really hard to promote and get things back because it was closed for so long.”

“Cruising is starting to come back ... Fiji is probably the busiest it’s been been in years, Bali is always constant.”

If she was booking a holiday for herself, Ms Orsnby would choose a relaxing island getaway, somewhere like Bora Bora or Vanautu.

“It’s a good family holiday and a proper relax ... but I think the impact (of the COVID-19 pandemic) on those smaller places, they need the tourism,” she said.

Ms Ornsby said many travellers who had saved and planned for their retirement holidays were now eager to take those long awaited trips.

For others, after a tough few years, they were looking for a shorter, relaxing getaway to recharge the batteries.

“It’s those destinations with a five-hour flight, a four-hour flight, it’s really appealing to people,” Ms Ornsby said.

“It’s not too far to go, it’s a very relaxed holiday.”