Simon Bunce, director of legal affairs at Abta, joined McEwan on a panel at the Elite conference, and said different industries have been “piling into Whitehall saying the government needs to look after them”.

“They want to protect themselves when we leave the EU, so we’ve got to do that,” said Bunce.

“We’ve had meetings with the aviation minister, the transport minister, the Department for Culture Media and Sport and the Department for Exiting the European Union.

“We had to get in there to say that the travel industry is very important – we create a lot of jobs and money for the UK and that they have to take us into account when they go into the negotiations.”

Meanwhile McEwan, former Abta chair, and chief executive of McEwan Travel Associates, and Holidaysplease chairman, said he was optimistic about the future.

“All the statistics suggest the economy is still buoyant and growing,” he said.