SPECIAL REPORT
Images supplied by School Travel Collective courtesy of Tour Time
School travel reborn By Heather Barker Vermeer Industry Reporter
As Aotearoa New Zealand passed the second anniversary of its international border closure in March, light appeared on the horizon for school travel tours. The reopening of international borders this term brings back the opportunity for school trips beyond our boundary, after a two-year hiatus that saw thousands of dollars lost to COVID-related cancellations. Families and schools left drastically out of pocket after hefty down payments were lost, resulting in more than
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350 Commerce Commission complaints over COVID-related travel cancellations and national media highlighting the plights of some seriously peeved parents and schools. Students at Epsom Girls’ Grammar in Auckland, for example, stumped up $3500 each for a planned school trip deposit to Europe, which was to cost around $10,000 per student. When it was cancelled, due to COVID, families received back only 15 percent of monies paid, prompting a New Zealand Herald investigation and further media coverage. Schools across the country, from Auckland to Invercargill, were negatively impacted by lack of refunds and the issuing of credits instead
of cash, which was of no use to Year 13 students, for example. In an attempt to mitigate financial risk to schools and families in the future, competing school tour operators have banded together to herald ‘a new dawn for school travel’, with a pledge to restore confidence in the industry and minimise potential loss. Based on a not-for-profit model, and following a similar UK lead, the School Travel Collective Inc (STC) is on a mission to provide greater safeguards and peace of mind by seeking to address two main questions asked by parents ask when contemplating sending their child on a school trip: Is my child going to be safe? Is my money going to be safe? It is the brainchild of Kiwis,
EDUCATION
Brent Imrie (Tour Time), Stephen Gillingham (Defining Moments) and Steve Lee (Travel to Learn); all competitors in the school travel tour market, who chose to come together for the common cause of building back a better school travel sector in NZ. Since its inception, more members – Ashleigh Hamilton (EdventureTours Travel) and Michael Service (Educational Journeys) – have come on board. Each must commit to Qualmark and Worksafe NZ approval and, crucially, the Travel Agents’ Association of New Zealand (TAANZ) financial bonding scheme. They are also required to be IATA accredited.
Term 2, 2022 | schoolnews.co.nz
