Mark Tanzer made the remarks in his opening speech at the Abta Travel Convention held in London on Wednesday 13 October.

He told delegates Abta had been “strongly critical of the government through the pandemic, for its failure to understand and support an industry that its own data show to have been the longest and hardest hit, and when it’s clear that international travel is on a much shallower recovery trajectory to other sectors, such as UK retail, or UK hospitality”. 

He said he was glad the government “has finally responded to our calls” but said the sector “desperately needed to see the restrictions and testing requirements eased”.

“The job is not yet done – we still need to think of how unvaccinated passengers can be free to travel; how we can ease the red tape around entering the UK, and how we can harmonise vaccine certification across the world,” Tanzer added. 

He also pointed out that Abta members were “still starved of cash”. 

“Despite the more positive outlook, it will take time for travel to get fully back on its feet. We urgently need the chancellor to extend business support measures, which will for some members will mean the difference between survival and failure.

“I’ve said previously that the UK’s outbound travel sector – which accounts for a quarter of a million jobs directly, and the same number again in its extended supply chain – feels like a political orphan, dealing and pleading with a host of government departments, none of which see outbound travel as their primary concern, or their special responsibility.”

Tanzer noted that “this challenge has always dogged our industry”, but he said the pandemic had “thrown the problem into sharp relief”.

“I repeat the call on government to give one of its ministers dedicated responsibility for outbound travel, whose issues immediately impact not only thousands of jobs across the country, but the happiness and health of tens of millions of British tourists.”