Risk has always been part of operating in travel. What is changing is the speed at which risks can develop, overlap and affect customers and operations.
For UK travel businesses, that means it isn’t enough to identify risks once and assume they’re covered. Risk management needs to keep evolving too.
Here are five areas we think deserve particular attention.
🌍 Geopolitical volatility
Conflict, political instability, changing travel advice, airspace restrictions and border disruption can all have an immediate impact on travel.
The challenge is often the speed at which circumstances change. A destination operating normally one day can require very different decisions the next.
Businesses need clear processes for monitoring developments, assessing what they mean for their operations and deciding when action is needed.
The question to ask: How quickly could you assess a changing situation and make a confident decision?
🌡️ Extreme weather
Heatwaves, wildfires, flooding and severe storms are increasingly affecting destinations around the world.
For travel businesses, this isn’t simply about whether a holiday can go ahead. Extreme weather can affect accommodation, transport, excursions, local infrastructure and, most importantly, the safety and wellbeing of customers.
It means weather-related risks increasingly need to form part of normal operational planning rather than sitting somewhere in a contingency plan.
The question to ask: Do your risk assessments reflect the conditions you’re operating in today?
💻 Cyber disruption
Travel businesses are highly dependent on technology – from booking and payment systems to customer records and communications.
If those systems become unavailable, a cyber incident can quickly become much more than an IT problem.
Could you communicate with customers overseas? Access the information you need? Contact suppliers? Manage an incident while your normal systems are unavailable?
The question to ask: Would your operational and crisis plans still work if your technology didn’t?
🔎 Supplier oversight
Few travel businesses operate alone. Accommodation providers, transport companies, excursion providers, DMCs and other suppliers can all form part of the customer experience.
As supply chains grow, maintaining consistent oversight can become increasingly difficult.
Good supplier management isn’t simply about collecting information. It’s about understanding where your greatest risks are, focusing attention appropriately and being able to demonstrate that those risks are being managed.
The question to ask: How well do you really know the risks within your supply chain?
🚨 Duty of care and crisis readiness
Most established travel businesses have policies, procedures and crisis plans.
The more important question is: will they work when you need them?
People need to understand their responsibilities. Information needs to be accessible. Decisions need to be made and recorded. Plans need to reflect how the business actually operates.
Testing those arrangements can often identify gaps long before a real incident does.
The question to ask: If something happened tomorrow, would everyone know what to do?
Keeping pace with a changing risk landscape
None of these risks exists in isolation. Extreme weather can cause operational disruption. Geopolitical events can affect suppliers and transport. A cyber incident can make managing another crisis significantly harder.
Good risk management isn’t about predicting every possible scenario. It’s about having the right systems, information and expertise in place to make good decisions when circumstances change.
And sometimes the most useful starting point is simply asking: are we confident we’re doing enough?
At Sanderson Phillips, we work with travel organisations to understand their risks, strengthen supplier and operational assurance, and prepare for incidents and crises.
If any of the questions above have made you stop and think, it may be a good time to talk to us.