Abta: 'Budget grant support mustn’t be based purely on retail'

Abta says that while the restart grants will be helpful for those travel businesses who have retail premises, such as retail travel agents, a large part of the travel industry will be excluded from this support, including tour operators and homeworkers. There are 12,000 designated homeworkers in Abta membership.

Abta also points out that although retailers will be allowed to open from 12 April, international travel cannot start until at least 17 May.

New analysis released today on travel over the past 12 months to some of the UK’s most popular holiday destinations reveals the impact the shutdown of travel has had not just on the sector but the wider UK economy.

Restrictions at home and abroad meant that people could only travel to the whole of Spain and Portugal for just three weeks during the past 12 months, rising to six weeks for France and Malta, and leisure travel to the US has been off limits entirely. Some industries such as ocean cruise and school trips were also closed down altogether.

In total, Abta estimates that a contribution of £13.7 billion to the UK economy from sales of overseas holiday and business travel services has been lost since the start of the pandemic – equivalent to £1.6 million every hour. The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics say the economic output for travel agents and tour operators is down by 86% between February and December 2020.

Abta says it is important the government uses the Budget to extend existing financial support measures such as furlough, VAT deferrals, and business rates relief, and provides tailored financial help, in the shape of grants, which are available to all travel businesses. This will help protect people’s jobs and livelihoods and help travel businesses through the recovery of the sector. Providing grants on the basis of whether they have retail premises will shut out a large proportion of the travel industry from much needed support.

It also says that the reopening of international travel is likely to be gradual, so it is important that the availability of the support tracks the opening-up of the market.

Withdrawing financial help too soon could mean that whole swathes of the industry, which aren’t able to open until later this year or the start of 2022, lose the essential funding that necessary to keep their businesses going, Abta points out.

Many travel businesses including destination management companies, tour operators, travel management companies, and home-based travel agents, have been entirely excluded from existing grants support packages so it is vital that the financial support is extended to them.

Mark Tanzer, chief executive of Abta, said: “While there is definitely a feeling of increased hope following the prime minister’s announcement of a roadmap for international travel, the reality remains that travel businesses haven’t been able to generate income over the last 12 months.

“This means that travel agents and tour operators, including many small-to medium-sized businesses, are still facing a significant cash shortfall.

“The prime minister said himself that travel, tourism and aviation are among the sectors hardest hit by the pandemic, so it is important the government acts on this by providing the tailored financial support which is long overdue.

“The restart grants will help our retail travel agent members, but many more travel companies will miss out on this financial help – which would be a lifeline for many businesses at this stage, so it is important all travel businesses have access to some sort of grant support.”