In the UK, we too, in all likelihood, will vote in a general election later this year when it’s likely we will see a change of government. Against this backdrop, as politicians consider their manifestos, winning over industry and economic sectors with high employment is, of course, part of their strategy.

All of us who worked through the pandemic will remember how painful it was not to have government’s ear, to not be recognised as an industry. Of course, we were in the middle of a major health crisis, but we got kicked into the long grass. While other sectors received grants and pay-outs, we got nothing.

At the time, many industry leaders talked about never wanting to be in the same position again should there be another crisis. So where are we now, and what have we learnt?

Two years ago, I called together the UK outbound travel sector to reinforce ongoing lobbying efforts, with a focus on amplifying the voice of our sector and raising the recognition of SMEs – agents and operators, in particular.

Since then, Advantage has joined forces with Aito and formed the UK Outbound Travel lobby group to help raise this profile. In the past few months, Abtot has come onboard, and today we represent more than 1,250 SMEs across the UK outbound travel sector.

Key to our success has been the appointment of a Westminster-based public affairs consultancy, which has helped us make considerable progress towards our ambition to open as many political doors as possible.

‘No quick fix’

There’s a long road ahead, but it is allowing us as a collective to make strong representations to build engagement with – and ultimately influence – MPs and policymakers.

Meanwhile, our MP engagement programme, whereby we arrange for constituency MPs to visit their local travel businesses, has gone from strength to strength.

We have already hosted almost 50 MPs over the past nine months, the vast majority of whom had never met with their local travel businesses so weren’t in a position to support them. Our programme is changing that.

With an election on the horizon, it’s vital we keep up this momentum and continue lobbying for the industry’s interests. By remaining proactive and persistent in our advocacy efforts, we can ensure the travel industry gets the recognition and support it deserves as a vital economic contributor.

But we can’t do it alone. My vision is to create one single, united voice for outbound travel, similar to how the hospitality sector achieves this through focused engagement across government departments and key stakeholders at all levels.

We must educate across the political spectrum, ensuring the UK outbound travel sector gets the recognition it deserves in terms of social, cultural and economic importance – and as a business sector in its own right.

But we need more partnerships and financial support to expedite our progress. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Success is long-term, and there is no quick fix. The more we invest and come together behind one single aim, then the more we can achieve. If you would like to know more, email me at julia@ukoutboundtravel.com.

Julia Lo Bue-Said is chief executive of the Advantage Travel Partnership, and was writing for TTG on the eve of the Advantage conference in Cancun over 15-18 May.