Travel agencies feeling the impact of COVID-19

JONESBORO — While airlines have dominated headlines for bailouts since the pandemic, travel agencies have seen business dwindle, and agencies in Jonesboro haven’t been excluded from the fallout.

Amy Cantin, co-owner of Jonesboro Travel, who has more than 20 years of experience in the travel arena, said the company has had to refund 80 percent of what was sold since last September.

“We’ve had to cancel multiple group trips up through August … We spend hours on the phone getting clients refunds and there’s no revenue until the client travels,” Cantin said. “The travel industry has been one of the hardest impacted

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during the whole pandemic.”

John Frankel, who has been with International Tours in Jonesboro since 1981, said there’s been no increase in clients for future events even with Arkansas moving to phase two of reopening, and there is too much uncertainty to book anything right now.

“I think people want to go; the problem is getting to places,” Frankel said. “I’m advising my clients to wait and see.”

Arkansas was recently added to a quarantine list for four states. Frankel said being added to those states’ lists makes it almost impossible to travel there.

“Without a shadow of a doubt, this pandemic has devastated the travel industry,” Chrissy Griffith, a travel consultant for Travel With Us, said.

Lisa Wanner, travel consultant and administrative assistant with Travel With Us, said that they’ve also had several cancellations and some clients have been given full refunds, while others have only been give the option for future travel vouchers.

Emelda Williams, owner and chief operating officer of Travel With Us, said Travel With Us is pushing for people to travel within the United States, and to take a smaller cruise along the Mississippi River. The ship holds 150 to 175 people while normal cruise ships typically have 2,000 to 4,000 passengers.

Although travel agencies aren’t getting the revenue they’ve been used to, they still believe it’s important to stay positive and wait out the pandemic.

“What’s playing a role for us is that people have something to look forward to … We’re hopeful and looking toward the future,” Cantin said.

“We believe that travel is going to come back in a different form,” Williams said.

Cantin, Wanner and Griffith all stressed the importance of hiring an agent when traveling.

Cantin said that she gets paid off commission from vendors, not servicecharges, so her clients pay no more than they would if they booked a trip themselves.

Williams said she’s been advised to keep her agency open and take a loss until the pandemic ends rather than temporarily close and reopen at a later date.

Travel Leaders Network released the results of an online survey in late May, which stated that 50 percent of people are still planning to take their 2020 vacation, while 43 percent are planning ahead to next year and 8 percent will wait until at least 2022.

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BLYTHEVILLE — A Missouri man was arrested Sunday in connection to a shooting that left three people dead and a fourth person wounded during a party at a home in Blytheville, according to Police Chief Ross Thompson.

Marlon Tucker, 36, of St.

Louis, was arrested in Jefferson County, Mo., on three first-degree murder warrants and one warrant of battery, Thompson said Sunday.

The suspect remained jailed Sunday in St.

Genevieve County Jail in Missouri pending extradition. Court records do not show that formal charges have been filed.

Thompson said Oscar Lane, 54, and the suspect's uncle were dead at the scene of the Saturday shooting while Joyce Adams, 54, and Virginia Bailey, 29, were also shot and died later at separate hospitals.

The fourth shooting victim was recovering.

The shooting occurred during a fight among people attending a party at the home, but the suspect was not involved in the altercation, Thompson said.

'There is no explanation why (he) began shooting people,' and the suspect has not provided a motive, he said.

Thompson said the man is also suspected of stealing a vehicle from the scene of the shooting and driving to Missouri, where he was arrested Sunday morning by the Missouri Highway Patrol.