The boss of a travel business which specialises in emergency repatriation services said they have helped hundreds of people get home during the global lockdown.
Meon Valley Travel Group has organised the repatriation of hundreds of people back to the 海角视频, Australia, the United States, Germany, France and other countries since the pandemic hit.
The business, which also deals with business trips, holidays and emergency medical assistance, employs almost 100 people from its head office in Petersfield, Hampshire, and a business travel office in Thurmaston, Leicester.
Managing director James Beagrie said business travel and overseas holidays disappeared overnight when the pandemic hit.
But working with NatWest the company has used the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) to provide it with the working capital to maintain its operations helping repatriate people to their home countries and support customers whose holidays have been cancelled.
Mr Beagrie, who has chaired several sector bodies in a career spanning more than 20 years in the industry, said: 鈥淭he pandemic has resulted in a significant number of people finding themselves in very difficult situations abroad and away from their homes and families.
鈥淢any are professionals whose employers have sought to repatriate them for safety reasons during the pandemic, while others are sadly in hospital needing to come home.
鈥淭he specialist services we provide are vital to helping these people, which is why it was so important we maintained our core operations during lockdown.
鈥淚t has been difficult, there is no denying that.
鈥淭he pandemic has resulted in a significant part of our business being temporarily impacted, but we鈥檝e built a resilient product and team, and the support and speed in which NatWest has worked to help us has only gone to enhance our mindset giving us the confidence we need to move forward positively and help the people that rely upon our business.鈥
Mikael Rosen, NatWest relationship director for the Solent region, said: 鈥淥ur purpose at NatWest is to support the people, businesses and communities we serve, and that purpose has never been more important than now.
鈥淐ompanies like Meon Valley Group play a pivotal role in our regional economies providing employment, investment and important services.
鈥淥ur role was to provide the support and help they needed so they could continue doing what they do so well.
鈥淭hat means more than just providing finance; it means doing everything you can to help businesses during this difficult time and that is what we strive to do every day.鈥
