Advantage chief: 'We need to change the narrative around outbound travel'
Ilaria Grasso MacolaAdvantage Travel Partnership boss Julia Lo Bue-Said has pledged to use her new government position to raise the profile, and recognition, of the UK’s outbound travel sector.
Lo Bue-Said was appointed on Monday (27 March) as an advisor to the Tourism Industry Council (TIC), a forum for government and firms to discuss the issues facing the travel and tourism industry.
“What we lack at the moment across the industry is the ability for outbound travel to be recognised as a strong economic force within the government,” the chief executive told TTG on Monday. “There is a view that outbound travel is all about money leaving the UK in ministers’ minds."
Data published by Abta and UKInbound in November shows that actually the international travel industry contributes £80bn to the UK economy each year in gross value added, supporting 1.5 million jobs.
“What I want to start doing is really trying to change the narrative so both the economic and social importance of outbound travel are recognised,” she added.
Lo Bue-Said’s comments amid a particularly positive period for the outbound travel industry, as bookings continue to grow despite the cost of living crisis.
“We’re not seeing a correlation between economic uncertainty and people not wanting to travel,” the chief executive said. “Sales are still very buoyant.”
Nevertheless, businesses continue to face several challenges – including rising energy costs and post-pandemic debts.
“[The situation] is overall very positive from a customer point of view, but from a business perspective, [we need to] make sure businesses can continue seeing the robustness of sales coming through while focusing on how the improve their operations,” she told TTG.
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