This is good news for the travel industry, which can plan with some more confidence. But businesses need to know that while the political commitment to transition is there, the legal framework isn’t, and won’t be in place until later in the year once issues like the Irish border have been resolved. Companies will need to bear this risk in mind when planning.
However, the big question is what are we transitioning to?
The discussions about the future relationship between the UK and the EU begin any day now, and the industry’s main concerns such as aviation rights and visa-free travel will finally be talked about.
There are some encouraging signs. Theresa May is seeking continued access to the European Aviation Safety Agency, vital for keeping planes flying safely.
Some of the rhetoric about “no deal” has been toned down. And the fact that a deal on transition was reached without a crisis shows that progress can be made.
We expect to see an outline agreement in the next six months or so, with the finer details filled out after that. So there’s a lot to discuss in a very short period of time.
And we know that international agreements take a long time to finalise. The deal between the EU and Canada that is often mentioned took seven years to negotiate.
That’s why Abta is asking the government to involve the industry as the negotiations proceed. We know what proposed solutions will work and where the pinch points lie. Keeping businesses in the dark cannot be an option. Government has done a lot of listening so far. Now it needs to do more discussing.
If changes need to be made, then businesses need time to plan. And change there will be. It has been made clear that our decision to leave the EU, including the single market and customs union, means things will look and feel different. How much change, though, is far from certain.
As things move to the next phase, Abta will be continuing to speak to politicians in this country and across Europe. Given the importance of the British traveller to countries like Spain, Portugal and Malta, we will be using the connection we have built up over the years to encourage their leaders to advocate for continued travel links.
The Brits enjoy their European holidays – they take 53 million trips to EU countries each year – and we all want that to continue. We need to make sure that pragmatic voices win the day and ensure that the unprecedented scale and depth of travel that customers enjoy continues after Brexit.
Alan Wardle is director of public affairs at Abta
