Tanzer said he saw the travel sector battling “strong economic headwinds” during the next 12 months, but praised the industry’s resilience during the pandemic, quoting philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s famous quip: “That which does not destroy you makes you stronger”

Assessing the current strains on Abta members, Tanzer said businesses face “very urgent and real challenges” after more than two years of disrupted trading, while the industry’s “human capital” had also been impacted with many leaving the sector leading to disruption throughout the supply chain this summer.

Referencing Abta’s new Holiday Habits report, which found overseas travel in the past 12 months had reached 70% of 2019 levels, Tanzer told delegates “we’re not out of this thick wood yet”, but stressed the industry should be “proud” at the speed it was able to bounce back operationally.

Tanzer took aim at chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s “nonchalant description” of economic “turbulence” following his recent "mini-Budget" and the impact it would have on members with less financial headroom post-pandemic. He said Abta had made “very strong representations” to prime minister Liz Truss, emphasising “not just the pains of the industry, but also its potential”, quoting new research which claims outbound travel accounted for £49 billion of gross value added pre-pandemic and was supporting 720,000 jobs.

“Most significantly for a government committed to ‘growth, growth, growth’, [travel] has potential to grow by 15% over the next five years, given the right regulatory and fiscal environment, said Tanzer. “This would outperform the general expectations for the UK economy and help lead the UK’s recovery in the years ahead.”

Tanzer urged Kwarteng to freeze Air Passenger Duty to “help get international travel growing”, calling a traditional increase with inflation a “significant cost to consumers already feeling squeezed” and increasing APD would give the signal that “Britain is closing for business”. Tanzer also warned new business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg may have the Package Travel Regulations “in his sights” as he looks to instigate “a bonfire” of EU regulations.

Travel demand ’undimmed’ by Covid

Touching on financial protection, Tanzer said pandemic had “shone a harsh light” on the flow of money around the sector, but warned the industry should “proceed with caution” before “radically changing” the protection system.

Demand for travel, he told delegates, had “not been dimmed by the pandemic”, but he also stressed the need for travel firms to be able to service it. Abta will launch new social media campaigns to attract young people into the travel industry, he added.

Looking ahead to next year, Tanzer predicted the structure of the industry would “continue to evolve” with more businesses choosing to become managed branches of a parent company to gain economies of scale and reduce regulatory requirements.

Remote working, said Tanzer, would continue to grow in popularity, while for firms, “recruiting, developing and caring” for their workforces would be an ongoing challenge.