In a blistering speech at the British Hospitality Association’s annual summit in London yesterday (June 6), Varney said successive government’s have failed to acknowledge the value of tourism to the economy, hitting it with red tape, high taxes and a string of failed policies.

Merlin Entertainments – which operates brands including Legoland, Alton Towers and Madame Tussauds – was just one of many hospitality businesses helping to reduce unemployment, he said.

Since 2010, the sector had created 400,000 jobs, with almost 75,000 of those going to young people aged 16-25 – one-third of all the youth jobs created across the economy.

Varney claimed a raft of employment legislation – including minimum wage increases, pension auto-enrolment and the apprenticeship levy – effectively “gambled with someone else’s money, namely businesses big and small across the UK”.

“Ours is a people industry with 30-50% of costs employment related and put simply externally induced costs on this scale will threaten the existence of some and put all under pressure.

“We can give the benefit of the doubt that most of these policies are well intentioned; we would all like to pay our people more, invest in more training and ensure they have pensions," he said.

“The problem is that these policies are being dropped on us by politicians with little experience of business and even less understanding of the disproportionate hit to large people employers such as those in Hospitality and Tourism."

In addition, he claimed the looming threat of Brexit, which could bring visa restrictions for foreign workers and trade barriers, could undo recent growth.

“It is now abundantly clear that with the obvious exception of security concerns price is the major determinant of success or failure in the international tourism market,” he stressed.

With the general election just days away, Varney said all political parties must look at how they treat UK tourism.

He called for the objective Low Pay Commission to be in charge of looking at potential rises to the minimum wage, for tax relief on bricks-and-mortar businesses, the slashing of VAT for tourism services and restaurants, and for Brexit immigration negotiations to recognise the importance of EU workers in hospitality.

“The talk is all about exemptions for astrophysicists, doctors and engineers. However the hospitality industry will equally grind to a halt without chefs, cleaners and front of house staff. We understand the mandate for any government to control immigration but this needs a ten year phased approach.”

He also demanded that tourism be switched from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, with the role of VisitBritain being scaled back.

“This is a significant UK industry with a broad private sector but it is a second tier priority, even within DCMS. As such its proper place and champion is the Business Department. It will not be regarded as serious industry within government until that happens and the much aspired to ‘seat at the table’ will continue to be in another room.”