COVID-19 Impacts on our 2020 season

2020 was intended to be a celebration year – it is our 10th anniversary – and instead we have found ourselves simply fighting to find the best way forwards as a small company…and watching all of the work, effort and building blocks placed over the last decade crumble in just a few short weeks. We are in a very stable position to survive this as a company – but this year has left me and my small seasonal staff team having to face some really emotional challenges – and you guys have all given us the support and enthusiasm to stay positive – so once again, thank you.

Of over 200 bookings for this year (which we had before the virus hit) we have now deferred every booking for June, July, August and September to 2021, which we offered to do free of charge.

In fact, only a total of twelve people have actually opted to cancel – and we have even had a few cancellations who refused to take a rebate from us to help us through these times. Honestly, the kind support which our guests have shown has made it certain that we will continue to operate in 2021 – we will not make any money at all in 2020, but 2021 is already shaping up to be our best year ever. In other words, your support and understanding is helping our little company stay afloat in the current storm.

• How do we view the present situation regarding travel?

• The UK government reinstated last Thursday that a 14-day quarantine period will be in effect for all travellers returning from overseas once travel begins. Nobody actually knows when travel will actually begin – but we have to say that what they have been the industry is planning is preposterous: they intend to fly with no social distancing.

• Most airlines are continuing to cancel international flights and are not confirming any dates to recommence travel.

• Barcelona remains closed to travel due to the region being extremely badly affected by COVID-19. At the time of writing if you could fly to Barcelona (which you cannot from most places) you would not be allowed to leave the region–this means it will be some time before any flights can even be scheduled.

• Andorran borders are shut, hotels are still closed, Vallnord is yet to open, and national restrictions are still stringent, despite having started a number of weeks before the UK.

• Nearly all countries are yet to decide when to allow their residents to begin traveling internationally – and TO WHICH countries they will be allowed to travel. Also, the other aspect of this is the question of which countries each nation will allow travel INBOUND FROM. Opening travel and borders is not a simple process – as no-one wants to create further spikes in infection rates. Governments will be highly cautious – and setting out this framework will take time and may be subject to sudden change as soon as infection rates show any signs of rising.

• Spain have stated last Wednesday that any travellers coming into the country from the UK (as the vast majority of our guests have to do in order to reach Andorra) are not likely to be welcome once travel begins, due to the level of infection rates, and lacklustre lockdown routes taken by the government in Britain.

• From this week French residents who live within 100km will be allowed to travel into Andorra – the Spanish border remains closed because the infection levels in Catalunya are too high. When the new rules begin Andorrans will be allowed to drive 100km into France, but no further.

• As a result of the huge drop in expected tourism this summer many hotels in Andorra are now possibly not opening at all this summer. We hear from our local contacts that several major hotels in La Massana will probably not open until the winter ski season.

The majority of our guests travel from the UK, but restrictions such as Spanish travel bans from Barcelona apply for ALL nationalities, so all of our guests are affected. Various governments around Europe are at different stages and have other approaches to COVID-19 – but easy international tourist travel still seems to be a only a remote possibility this summer for all of us.

In reality, we believe there is virtually no chance of international tourist travel returning to normal in 2020.

We feel that international travel for the rest of this year is extremely likely to continue to be highly affected by the pandemic – and aspects such as quarantine periods will render holidays almost impossible for most people, as you will have to quarantine for 2 when you get home – a 3 week commitment for a 1 week holiday simply is not workable for most people.

Based on the evidence, in reality we feel that all the signs suggest that COVID-19 will heavily affect travel for the remainder of this year.

The economic impact of this decision upon Singletrack Safari is obviously very significant and negative, but we wanted to continue to give the best, most honest advice we possibly could. We would rather have little or no income this year than provide bad information to the people we value the most.

We have never faced anything like this, but the future looks incredibly positive – we are already 50% booked up for next year (we normally would have no bookings at all!) so we will be fully booked in 2021. We have discussed the situation at length with our guiding team, and all of the guys are wanting to work with us next year too – which is fantastic news, as we have an incredible team lined up!

So, on behalf of Jon, Emily, James, Sarah and myself, our thanks once again – and we cannot wait to get riding with you next year in Andorra – we are going to miss it so badly, but the future is bright.

Best wishes,
Martin

Andorra news reports suggest that around 30 people have died there – which in a population of only 77,000 people is hugely impactful – so my assumption is that the government will continue to be very strict, I suspect. Andorra has been on lockdown for nearly a month already, and nearly all offices are closed, so we are getting very little info back from our organisational contacts at the moment. However, the Vallnord press release suggests that the Park themselves made the call on the event cancellation…again, supporting the theory that there is currently no specific date in mind for the reopening of borders.

Meanwhile, as you may well have seen, this week the government in France have announced that their national lockdown will extend to mid-May at the earliest. Andorra is obviously heavily influenced by that decision, as they still have governmental links despite their independence. This suggests to me that it is highly unlikely the borders will open by June, although, to reiterate, this is purely speculation, and no official information is available. As a result of the offers and support structure which we have provided (see previous update) almost all guests for June and July have now deferred their bookings to later dates; many opted to delay to August and September, plus quite a number of people have decided to hold their bookings for 2021 and we have therefore transferred their deposits across to next year. If you are undecided, or want to reconsider your options just drop us a line and we will do everything possible to ensure you don’t miss out!

Meanwhile, in neighbouring Spain, to the South of Andorra, the government are making what seem to be somewhat unrealistically optimistic noises about returning to normal – especially considering that they have a death toll that is one of the highest anywhere. They have seen a downturn in recent deaths and new infections, but despite this it is hard to visualise the relaxing of Spanish travel rules at any time in the near future, and the international reaction to their idea of ending their lockdown seems to have been met with general derision by other governments.

Internationally, once things do begin to turn the corner with each country’s own internal restrictions, this does not necessarily mean that external inter-country travel rules will change either – as it seems logical that either every nation’s government will gradually need to approve which countries (or maybe even regions) their residents will be able to visit…and beyond that, bear in mind that logically, those countries will ALSO need to decide from which nations they will allow incoming travel as well.

Effectively it is all pure guesswork and speculation right now – but I can’t envisage lockdowns (particularly the UK) being eased this month, and probably not next month either…and then the travel system will be slow to recover too, for the reasons discussed above. I can’t realistically see much likelihood of any international tourist travel being permitted before July personally. I am also guessing that this is the reason why the World Cup has been cancelled: they are assuming it is unlikely that people will be able to travel to it.

Just like everyone else, we keep waiting for a bit more information to become available, but nothing is significant has been forthcoming…although I have a feeling we may know a bit more by the end of this week, as the momentum for further clarification is building in the press and social media…so we will just have to keep waiting for now.

As a result, we are taking the following steps, effective immediately:

• Option 1- you can now defer your trip to an alternative week free of charge. You can amend to any available week later in 2020, or 2021. Normally we are not able to defer trips across different years – but these are exceptional circumstances, so we are going to make this possible in order to allow you to put your holiday on hold until these difficult times are behind us.
  – If you want you want to defer to later in 2020, we need to know this by April 10^th If your chosen new 2020 date also looks to be affected, you will still be able to defer to 2021 later.
  – If you want to defer to 2021, we need you to let us know by April 10th, but you do not need to confirm the exact date at this stage

• Option 2 – If you want to entirely cancel your booking, we are going to change our deposit refund rules. Instead of forfeiting your entire deposit we will offer you a 50% refund of the amount paid.
  This means that most people will lose only £35 by cancelling, or far less in many cases. This is to show our determination to help reduce your financial difficulties in these challenging times, and we also will issue official cancellation invoices to help support you with any claim on your insurance for other losses. At this stage all guests have paid only a 20% deposit – as balances are payable 6 weeks before your due arrival date. Therefore, if you decide to cancel and take advantage of this offer, we need you to do so by April 17^th at the very latest.

• If you want to defer your trip to a new date, or take the cancellation offer, we need to know by the deadlines above. We will issue an official amendment invoice & booking agreement for you to sign. Amendments will be made on a first come, first-served basis –please remember that availability is also affected by existing bookings, which we have to honour, of course. In other words, please tell us EXTREMELY urgently – ideally immediately – if you would like to defer your trip to a new date, as this is absolutely crucial for planning and booking purposes.
• We will not charge our normal £75 booking amendment fee to swap to an alternative week. This fee will be waived for all amendments to bookings to make your decision easier.
• We are going to freeze the price of your booking if you defer to later in 2020. Therefore, if there is a price difference between the week you have booked and the one you wish to defer to, we will not make any additional charges. We want to show our appreciation for your support, so we are going to freeze the price of your booking to protect you, so we all know where we stand clearly.

• We are also going to protect/freeze your price if you choose you defer to 2021. If our costs do not increase, we guarantee will not make any additional charges to you. Furthermore, if our suppliers are forced to increase their prices next year as result of the global situation, we will guarantee that your booking price will not rise unless absolutely necessary, & any increase is capped at a 10% maximum.
• All of these options and steps also apply to new bookings too – so if you are tempted to book, but you are unsure what the future holds, you can do so safely knowing that you have flexibility in an ever-changing situation.

As I am sure you can see, we are working incredibly hard to relieve some of the pressure of this situation for our guests, and we are also trying to make sure that no-one loses out unnecessarily, whilst also making sure Singletrack Safari can continue to run amazing trips in the future!

WHAT TO DO NOW – ALL bookings require an urgent response please.

• Decide if you want to defer or cancel your booking, or take no action
• Let us know immediately what you have decided
• If you want to defer to summer 2021 please confirm by 10/04/20. We do not need to know a specific date at this stage, unless you have one in mind.
• If you want to defer to later in 2020 please confirm by 10/04/20 & we will discuss your new date. If later this year new dates also look to be affected, you can still defer to 2021.
• If you decide to cancel entirely, please contact us by 17/04/20 and we will prepare an official cancellation invoice and arrange the 50% refund of your deposit.
• If you choose to defer, we will immediately issue new booking and amendment paperwork

Once again, I really want to let every one of our guests know how much we appreciate your support in these times – and we want to continue to show you that we will look after you throughout this crisis however we possibly can. Hopefully these options will give you some hope for the future, release a few worries from your day-to-day life at the moment, and support you in staying safe and healthy. Many airlines are now offering free or cheap ways of amending flight bookings too – so you can now easily ensure you have a great trip in your future, whilst removing doubt, worry and reducing your risks. For sure this will be the most challenging year in the history of Singletrack Safari – we want to express our deep gratitude that you guys are helping us survive it safely too.

Stay calm, stay positive and remember that our amazing mountains and trails will still be there once we have all got through this. You don’t need to miss out, but we will all need to work together, make some sacrifices, be understanding, and continue to fight until we put these challenging times behind us and can get back to sharing our love and passion for riding our bikes together again.

Above all, please keep healthy and happy – those trails are going to feel all the more well-earned once this is all over!

Once again, my heartfelt thanks,

Martin