Joss Croft: 'Chancellor's pledges are the only real support left to SMEs'

Over the past couple of weeks, the global impact of the virus has really started to bite, with some countries enforcing international travel restrictions on their citizens.

My association has seen an exponential increase in calls and messages from our members, who are incredibly worried about how their businesses will survive financially during this current crisis.

Although loans are being offered by some banks, it is likely that for many tourism businesses, particularly SMEs, the only real option left on the table is financial support from the government, which the chancellor looks to have addressed in his Budget.

Our tour operator members rely wholly on international visitors coming to the UK, and so they are predominantly the ones who have been hit the hardest in recent weeks.

Although our other members such as attraction, restaurant and accommodation businesses are also being hit hard, and this can only get worse if the UK follows Italy’s example and restricts all but essential travel, they can still rely to a certain extent on business from domestic visitors which our tour operators cannot.