Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the funding package on Tuesday (21 December) after rushing back from the US to address the economic impact of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
However, there is no new cash allocated directly to travel or tourism businesses, with more than two-thirds of the support (£683million) set aside to deliver targeted grants for hospitality and leisure businesses.
Business Travel Association chief Clive Wratten said while support for the arts, hospitality and leisure was undoubtedly "imperative", travel’s need was just as great.
"It is devastating to see that once again, business travel and its supply chain have been left out of government financial support," he said. "A vital part of the UK economy and the driver behind global Britain is being left in the cold.
“We urgently need the Treasury to correct this oversight and support our industry into 2022. This is the only way for there to be a safe return to international travel when conditions allow.”
Abta’s director of public affairs Luke Petherbridge said the announcement "once again ignores the direct impact of government policy decisions on businesses reliant on international travel".
"Travel agents, tour operators and travel management companies will rightly be asking why they haven’t been given the same treatment as other businesses that are suffering at this time," said Petherbridge.
"Average annual revenue across the travel industry was down by nearly 80% on pre-crisis levels even before Omicron emerged, and the re-introduction of enhanced testing – both pre- and post-arrival – have added significant costs and notably dampened consumer demand.
"As the sector approaches what should be the peak sales period for booking holidays for summer 2022, businesses are instead facing another round of heartbreaking and demoralising cancellations, with no indication that the government is listening to the challenges they are facing."
’Not good enough’
Petherbridge highlighted the £102 million top-up for the government’s Additional Restrictions Grant, but stressed this would not go far enough "to support a sector that has endured 21 months of restrictions".
"What’s more, travel businesses will have to compete with companies in other industry sectors to get some of this cash. It simply isn’t good enough for the government to continue to ignore an industry that, prior to Covid-19, supported over 500,000 jobs and generated more than £37 billion for the UK economy."
To allow travel to trade its way out of the Covid crisis, Abta is calling the immediate lifting of "unnecessary" travel restrictions; tailored winter resilience grants for the travel sector, similar to those announced today for hospitality; help for businesses facing loan repayments at a time when they have no income; and the extension of rates relief for all travel businesses in financial year 2022/23.
“The government must also urgently consider the case for furlough and other income support, especially if travel restrictions are going to be maintained for any significant period," Petherbridge added.
Manuel Cortes, general secretary of the TSSA union, echoed Abta’s calls for additional furlough support. “Our travel trade, and now our hospitality sector, are being badly hit by restrictions and government advice that people should reduce their social contacts," said Cortes.
“What we needed to hear from Sunak was that the government would be reintroducing the furlough scheme for workers within all areas of our economy which Omicron is badly hurting."
