After five years in business, Uschi Howard and the Travel Compass have left Yass and will be heading to Merimbula. Uschi cited a difficult period for the travel industry with the pandemic as her reason for departure.
“The lockdown with Covid just keeps going and going and going, and just when we travel agents think we’ve got another opportunity to make a few more bookings, they lock it all down again and we have to undo everything we’ve done.”
“I had to make the decision to either close altogether, retire and get a job somewhere else. Or, sell our home and move somewhere where it’s a bit cheaper, and then invest some of the money into a travel agency for the next 12 months.”
“That’s what we’ve done and we’ve chosen to move into the Merimbula area. I’m going to open an office in Merimbula, with the expectation that there is still not going to be a lot of income for the next 12 months but hoping that after 12 months the travel industry is going to start recovering and that I’ll be ready for that,” she said.
Uschi wanted to thank the community in Yass for their support, and it’s that support which drew her to stay in a regional environment in Merimbula.
“It’s a mixed feeling. To think that my little baby in Yass I have to let go, but I’m excited about the next adventure. This is my next stage in life and I’m not the type of person that looks back and moans about lost opportunities and stuff that goes bad. I tend to move forward and I think I still have a lot to contribute to the travelling public.”
“I’m going to miss my clients. Through the travel agency I made a lot of friends, so I’ll miss the people popping in and having a bit of a chin wag.”
“Yass to me has been very, very good. The general public in Yass has been very generous which isn’t necessarily the case in the cities. I think that was the driver in choosing another regional town to open an office. I don’t think I would even consider opening an office in a city,” she said.
Whilst there will no longer be an office in Yass, Uschi hopes her clients will remember her service and still reach out to her if they need any holidays booked.
“Having talked to some of my clients now, I hope that they will follow me. My telephone number, my email address, it’s all the same. It’s just they can’t come into the office and have a cup of tea and a chat.”
“It worked really, really well here over the first four years and then Covid hit and I just managed the rebooking and monitoring cancellations and refunds,” she said.
It’s unknown at this time who will move into the old Travel Compass office.
We at the Yass Valley Times would like to wish Uschi good luck in the next chapter of her journey and hope that the world of travel begins to reopen again sometime soon.
Max O’Driscoll
