The association has new research underlining the economic value of UK outbound travel to the EU.

“The numbers are striking”, says Alan Wardle, Abta’s director of public affairs, and he has a point.

In 2016, UK trips alone to the EU generated more than €37 billion in economic value, supporting 870,000 jobs across the EU and more than 440,000 businesses.

In Spain, the UK’s top holiday destination (more than 14 million Brits travelled there last year), almost 6% of all Spanish businesses are linked to UK tourism.

This, however, indirectly highlights the other shadow looming over the sector – overtourism.

There have been anti-tourism protesters on the streets of Barcelona this summer, but in a city which has reportedly seen visitor numbers swell 25% in four years, frustration is perhaps understandable.

And with similar protests held in cities across Europe – in San Sebastian, Majorca, Dubrovnik and Venice to name a few – as WTM London highlighted this week, it is also an issue that can no longer be ignored.

The subject even dominated the UNWTO and WTM Ministers’ Summit, which explored why “growth is not the enemy”. The issue, the summit agreed, was in how destinations manage this “tourism phobia”.

Countries battling with this problem might do well to take a leaf out of Italy’s book, which is Premier Partner of WTM London. Despite having an overabundance of tourists, it is keen to raise the profile of lesser-known regions and experiences to disperse its visitors more effectively, as we highlight in the issue.

If Italy can set an example for others, then perhaps tourism can replace such shadows with a brighter future for the years to come.