GoPlay cares: Our response to Covid-19
Dear passengers,
We hope this finds you, your family and friends well.
2020 has been challenging and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic across the world has been unprecedented.
For the majority of us our everyday lives have changed, as we stay at home, social distance and help the world heal.
Families have shared quality time and become closer, while communication has evolved with Zoom chats now common place.
Oceans have become clearer and the air cleaner, while wildlife has flourished.
Travel Industry
The travel industry has been hit hard. While April 2020 was expected to be one of the busiest times of the year due to the Easter holidays, the near-universal introduction of travel restrictions led to a fall of 97% in international tourist arrivals.
That followed a 55% decline in March.
Between January and April 2020, international tourist arrivals declined by 44%, translating into a loss of about US$195 billion in international tourism receipts.
However, the love for travel never fades and tourism is starting to move once more and, as gocollette.com note "travel is ready for a comeback".
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) also reports that the sector is beginning to restart.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, says: "Tourism can be a platform for overcoming the pandemic. By bringing people together, tourism can promote solidarity and trust..."
As tourism restarts though, GoPlay responsibilities remain.
Safety
At GoPlay Sports we take our passengers’ safety seriously, in fact it is our no.1 consideration.
The world’s largest travel platform Tripadvisor surveyed thousands of people and CEO Stephen Kaufer revealed: “Nine out of 10 said safety is the most important thing that they are looking for when planning this next trip.”
‘York Field Hockey wants to thank GoPlay for the incredible February trip we experienced in Spain. Despite what was going on with COVID-19 we were able to have a safe and fun trip. Of all the sports tours I have been a part of, this one was definitely the best!’
Kaitlin Fost - York College Spartans (Field Hockey)
GoPlay acknowledge that and have been working hard during lockdown to review our safety procedures, to give our passengers and their loved ones peace of mind.
We are working closely with our local vendors to ensure adequate, physical distancing will be in place in line with the latest World Health Authority advice, whilst limiting the use of public transport.
Customer satisfaction
The onset of the coronavirus pandemic has challenged the travel industry, but at GoPlay we remain focused on customer service.
All customer calls and emails were responded to within 24 hours with GoPlay appreciating the need for fast, accurate information in what have been uncertain times.
We received 100% satisfaction in our response to Covid-19 from all of our passengers from coaches to individual families.
“Our team was scheduled to travel with GoPlay to Europe this spring. They were incredibly flexible with the pandemic and their communication was excellent. Our players are really looking forward to traveling with GoPlay in the future.”
Connor Erickson - Wentworth Leopards (Soccer)
Financial impact
The pandemic affected families in many ways including financially.
We responded robustly to the pandemic and we are proud to announce that none of our valued customers lost any money. We made sure families got money back into their hands quickly.
We gave back 95% of monies as cash refunds, with the other 5% as redeemable vouchers.
“GoPlay handled our situation impeccably. I had a lot of worried parents, and they called each family and explained what was going to happen in terms of refunds and timeline. All our families were delighted with their response.”
Pat Moroney - CBA (Rugby)
Staff appreciation
We made the decision to invest in our staff early during the onset of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Our experienced team are the most knowledgeable and the best in the business. We value them greatly and we wanted to repay their loyalty.
So we held all of our staff and rewarded them for working through these difficult times.
Our directors also agreed to defer their remunerations until 2022.
Worry-free travel
Our plan for 2021 and beyond is to offer our passengers ‘worry-free’ travel because at GoPlay we care.
We have been hard at work formulating new terms and conditions, which reflect the Covid-19 pandemic and its global impact.
We will soon be announcing flexible deposits and new payment structures which will put our passengers first.
Finally, take care of your family and loved ones.
To all of our passengers past and present, please take care of yourself.
To all coaches whose Fall Season has been effected, we are thinking of you and your athletes.
And when the time is right, we’ll be ready to provide you with the travel opportunity to reconnect us all.
The GoPlay team
*Information was correct at time of publishing. GoPlay now endeavors to follow all local country guidelines regarding Covid-19 and associated variants.