As a result of the prolonged impact of Covid-19 many Journeys have been canceled or postponed. Many clubs are looking to postpone their Journey assignments from both 2020 and 2021. FFI wants to work with you to facilitate this and we appreciate your flexibility and understanding as we adapt to an ever-changing environment.
As many of you know, Journey matching is done each year by a staff member (not a computer!) and is a detailed process of matching calendar preferences, hosting capacities, destination preferences, and – crucially – hosting availability. It is unlikely that we will be able to postpone two years’ worth of Journeys into a single year (2022) so we have come up with some guidance for clubs.
Going forward, this is our plan for Journeys impacted by Covid-19:
- As previously mentioned, we will work with each Journey and Host Coordinator in rescheduling any 2020 Journeys that were canceled due to Covid-19. This may mean rescheduling to 2021 or 2022 depending on the preferences of the clubs involved in the match, and your region.
- In the event that your 2021 Journey is canceled due to government-imposed travel restrictions, we will continue to do our best to find a suitable date in the future when there is greater confidence in the Journey’s success.
- If your Journey is canceled for any reason other than government-imposed travel restrictions due to Covid-19, the match will be canceled and reassigned to another club. You would be welcome to request the assignment again in the future during the yearly matching process.
- During the 2022 matching process that will take place later this year, clubs will have the opportunity to let us know about their 2020 or 2021 postponed/canceled Journeys. We will not be able to match every one of these postponed Journeys, due to hosting availability, but every effort will be made to prioritize postponed Journeys.
Why can’t we guarantee all 2020 and 2021 Journeys that have been postponed will go ahead?
The best way to explain this is by the following example.
Club A was assigned a week with Club B in 2020 but that was canceled due to Covid-19 and both clubs agreed to postpone the Journey to 2022.
Club C was assigned a week with Club B in 2021 but has to cancel this Journey due to travel restrictions. Club C also wants to postpone their Journey to 2022.
However, Club B only hosts once a year and can’t host both Club A and Club C in 2022.
There will be many situations like this during the 2022 Journey assignment process. FFI will collect each clubs’ preferences (including the host club) and will make a decision regarding the 2022 match.
With over 350 Journeys that take place globally every year, sorting out the impact of the pandemic on the matching process will take time. Please don’t hesitate to schedule a time to talk directly with staff about your club’s inbound and outbound requests. We are happy to work side-by-side with you in this process.
– Kimberly Fraser, FFI Planning