Longtime travel agent confident Round Rock community will support local businesses

Round Rock Travel & Cruises has been a business of the Peckham family for 37 years, but it is easy to understand some uncertainty for the near future as coronavirus has limited travel to several countries and closed several cruise lines.

Many of the company’s clients book cruises or trips to Disneyland or Disney World through them. Some cruise lines have closed for two months, and the closures last week of Disneyland and Disney World in the middle of spring break season have been a hit to anybody involved in the travel industry.

“It’s been tough, but we’re dealing with it as it comes,” said Will Peckham, who owns and operates the small business on Round Rock Avenue purchased by his parents, Bill and Mary Peckham, in 1983.

Peckham said the reason his business enjoys success as the travel industry changed is the quality of customer service the business has always taken pride in providing, not unlike many family-owned businesses in Round Rock.

It is that customer service that helped two young travelers get back from Vienna, Austria, last week after President Donald Trump announced travel restrictions to and from Europe.

“A mother called asking if we knew details [of the travel ban] and how she could get her daughter and niece back home,” Peckham said. “There was some confusion and the airlines were struggling to handle calls. We had a connection. We were able to help, and that felt very rewarding.”

Peckham said the H1N1 virus outbreak in 2009 was similar in the way it affected the travel business, and 9/11 also changed travel habits of clients for months.

“We have been through tough times, but it’s important to be safe,” Peckham said. “We’re going to get through this, and I hope it brings us together in the end. This community supports each other. We will be OK.”