Abta: 'Travel's recovery will be longer than most'

If the UK is to reopen routes to many important trade and tourism partners, including the US and other larger countries, it will be vital that measures that enable a more targeted approach are adopted, as they are already in other countries including the Netherlands. There is also a need for more transparency as to how decisions are being taken, enabling businesses and consumers to take more informed decisions.

We also need support to reopen those parts of the industry, including business travel, cruise, school travel and coach travel, which remain effectively closed or are in the very early days of recovery. Abta is working proactively behind the scenes on many of those, often with other stakeholders and associations in the industry, to deliver positive outcomes.

The government must also recognise that the one-size-fits all model, which was a necessity in the early days of Covid-19 to get support schemes in place quickly, and which has provided valuable help to many businesses in terms of the furlough scheme, business rates support and one-off grants, has now run its course.

There is a clear economic case for a more tailored approach during the next phase of economic recovery, and Abta is specifically asking the government to take the following steps, within which there is much common ground with #SaveTravel’s asks too:

• Support UK travel businesses, as well as travellers, by offering an APD holiday effective until the end of summer next year (September 2021). This move would support the recovery of travel and provide a much-needed boost to business travel, which will help support the UK’s trade links that will be vital to the general economic recovery of the country.
• Recent changes to FCO travel advice and quarantine changes relating to Spain, and the broader knock on impact this has had on confidence, is a major setback to the industry’s recovery, and will mean for many that a meaningful return to trading will not occur until 2021. As a result, the industry will need tailored support to retain jobs and keep businesses alive. This will require an extension to salary support (furlough scheme) beyond the end of October to avoid potentially tens of thousands of jobs losses in travel.=
• Travel agents make a vital contribution to the health and vibrancy of the UK high streets. These businesses have lost almost all revenues and commissions for the year. It is vital the government considers a further round of targeted grant support to help these businesses. Business rates support should also be extended to 2021/22.

We saw a couple of weeks ago the government finally confirm their support for Atol related Refund Credit Notes. This was overdue, of course it was, but the additional confidence they can offer consumers is vital now, especially as we have seen the first moves backwards in terms of destination openings. The pandemic is far from over, so being able to demonstrate the clear benefits of booking a package holiday to consumers is a welcome step. In addition, we have also had a helpful clarification from HMRC that those within the TOMS VAT scheme can benefit from the domestic VAT cut announced recently, using the existing transport scheme. That might not be the biggest win, but it does show government willingness to be responsive to our asks.

Abta has sought to be open and collaborative throughout this crisis, inviting other associations and parts of the industry into the Save Future Travel campaign, and involving those organisations in joint letter writing campaigns and other efforts, as well as coordinating recently a cross-Whitehall roundtable for the organised travel sector with our “home department”, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

The meeting provided an excellent opportunity to get our messages across, promoting a coherent and joined up approach, which is a platform we hope to build upon. We have also spent a lot of time doing the unglamorous but vitally important job of building the evidence case and base for action behind the scenes with officials.

With that in mind, we are this week launching our latest Member Survey to gather the latest evidence from Members on their situation and what is happening across the various parts of the travel sector. For the members reading this, I cannot stress enough how important it is that you support this work, and thank you in advance for the time you are taking to provide us with the vital ammunition we need to make the industry’s case.

It has never been more important to show a united front, and I hope we can all continue to work together across the travel industry in the days and weeks ahead to deliver a loud and clear message those in Westminster, as well as the devolved institutions across the UK, that our industry needs, and is deserving of, support.

I urge everyone to support TTG’s efforts and to get behind the #SaveTravel campaign.

Luke Petherbridge is head of public affairs at Abta.

Read TTG’s letter to transport secretary Grant Shapps and chancellor Rishi Sunak here.

Click here to sign TTG’s letter to Shapps and Sunak