The letter (below) explains the catastrophic impact of the coronavirus crisis on the industry and details why urgent sector specific financial support is needed.
Explaining that the outbound leisure and business travel sectors contribute an estimated £37.1bn to the UK economy, while the inbound tourism sector contributes an estimated £28bn to the UK economy, the letter calls on the ministers to recognise the urgent plight of this industry.
It points out that while most other industries have been able to restart, outbound and inbound travel has stalled, with the decision to revoke Spain’s travel corridor a particular blow to consumer confidence in booking overseas holidays.
It details the unique challenges facing travel, explaining that barely any money has entered the sector since the coronavirus crisis began, but that huge sums have been paid out due to the eye-watering numbers of refund claims.
The letter also emphasises that many travel professionals have been working with no salary coming in for months as businesses worked to sort out customers who had holidays booked. And it reinforces that this situation is simply not sustainable.
The #SaveTravel campaign, led by TTG Media, is urging the government to:
- Provide direct sector specific support for the UK travel industry and companies operating within it (including SMEs like travel agents and tour operators, not just airlines), which might include an extension to the furlough scheme. Without this, the country will see thousands of company failures and hundreds of thousands of job losses.
- Consider a holiday on Air Passenger Duty until the end of August 2021, to help with pricing and encourage consumers to start booking holidays again. The hospitality sector has been aided by the Eat Out to Help Out scheme. The travel industry is urgently requesting similar support from government too.
- Commit to providing more advance notice of changes to destinations’ quarantine statuses. Giving the travel industry just six hours’ notice on Saturday night before the new Spain rules came into force caused huge confusion and anxiety for UK citizens looking to travel overseas, and foreign visitors looking to visit the UK. Businesses cannot be run with such little planning and notice. Advance warning of destinations that may be “in the red zone” or are about to be switched off – and transparency on how decisions are being taken - is a necessity for the travel industry if businesses are to survive.
Please show your support by adding your signature to this letter and share it across social media or with your customers.
Read TTG’s #SaveTravel letter in full
