As you are aware, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the postponement and rescheduling of all pilgrimage departures worldwide for 2020 until further notice. This has been a very complex time of uncertainty and confusion for all intended travellers and we wish to express our heartfelt gratitude for your understanding and patience.

Although we at Harvest have been operating under a skeleton staff for some months now, please be assured that our 30 plus years of business operation has left us in a strong position to well and truly ride out this storm as we look to better days in the very near future.

We are pleased to acknowledge the recent successful developments of several COVID-19 vaccines worldwide that are scheduled to be rolled out systematically over the coming year. This, along with the trade talk of airlines returning to less restrictive international travel by the second half of 2021, all seems to reflect a much better outlook than 2 to 3 months ago. We will continue to watch, pray, and hope.

Please allow us in the meantime to provide some updated information and assurances about future travel with Harvest:

• Scheduled group pilgrimages are currently anticipated to recommence by September 2021 and a full range of 2021/22 exciting opportunities will be sent to you for your consideration in the early new year. Some Parish and private groups are beginning to consider new date options in anticipation of an impending surge of demand in the not too distant future. All this, of course, will remain dependent on the positive global emergence from the pandemic over the coming year.
• We intend to keep customers well informed with regards to ongoing developments of health and safety reassurances pertaining to the specific pilgrimage in which they are participating.
• Harvest has recently moved its Australian headquarters to new offices in Alexandria NSW and is in the process of upgrading its reservation management system to implement greater booking efficiencies for all of our group and individual pilgrims.
• The Oberammergau Passion Play has been rescheduled to 2022 (May to October) and Harvest will have set departures featuring this once in a decade event.
• We are pleased to advise our Holy Land customers that Emirates and other Middle East carriers have now commenced direct daily connecting services into and out of Tel Aviv bringing many benefits and efficiencies to our future pilgrimage programmes to Israel.

We wish to take this opportunity of wishing you all a grace-filled new year, as we continue to count our blessings as a nation while praying for those overseas whose circumstances remain quite uncertain for now.

With every blessing from all of us in the Harvest family.

Philip Ryall
CEO / Chairman