Boat hire companies recovering well from the pandemic

THE boat hire companies are recovering well from the Coronavirus lockdown.

Canal & River Trust tell us that hire companies too are stating that bookings are up 240% since government gave the go-ahead for holidays to resume from the end of June.

Coronavirus period

Of course this figure is because bookings had been flat over the worst of the coronavirus period, but once the government gave permission to stay overnight on boats, the bookings came flooding in over a very short period.

 Nigel Stevens, from Drifters, a consortium of hire boat companies, comments:

"We’ve bases right across the country and boats that provide home-from-home luxury.  Anyone looking for a boat in the school holidays should get in quick, whilst those without school-age children can book now to secure their boat to benefit from canal cruising in the late summer sunshine in September and October.”

Overwhelmed

Hoseason's too are being overwhelmed by customers who had their holidays stopped by the coronavirus pandemic and have contacted its customers who have had the option to transfer their holiday online with a voucher or to request a cash refund.

Most are rebooking with the company asking for their patience as it works through the enquiries as quickly as it can.

Black Prince are open and accepting bookings for this summer and autumn, with bases in England opened from 4th July, Wales (Chirk base) from 13th July and Scotland (Falkirk basd) 17th July.

It states its international guests are also now allowed to travel to the UK for holidays if their country is included in the ‘travel corridor’ list, and is offering discounts.

16 locations

With 16 starting locations across the waterway network and canal boat sizes to accommodate 2 to 12 people, ABC Boat Hire is back and offering boat holidays from all its locations. All in all it looks as though the boat hire business is recovering well from the pandemic.