Advantage Travel Partnership Chief Executive Julia Lo Bue-Said told more than 200 guests at the Xeinadin Travel Lounge on Tuesday (6 October) that the industry “needed to see measures that do not hinder business growth” in the upcoming Budget.
However, she said: “The challenge that we’ve got, like with any new administration, is ensuring the administration believes the outbound travel is a growth economy. It is an economic driver.”
Too often, the perception with the leisure outbound travel sector is that money is leaving the UK, Lo Bue-Said said. “This is the narrative that we’ve got,” she continued.
Autumn Budget
Her fellow panellists – UKinbound Chief Executive Joss Croft Abta's Director of Public Affairs Luke Petherbridge – agreed changing that perception could mean this parliament is viewed as a real golden era for travel further down the line.
When asked by moderator Daniel Pearce, TTG Media Chief Executive, what single change would need to come to help travel, Croft said: “It’s got to be recognition, across Whitehall, across every department in Whitehall, that inbound and outbound tourism as a growth engine for the United Kingdom.”
With the Autumn Budget only around three weeks away, speculation across travel is building about what could be announced. Earlier in the panel discussion, Petherbridge said he wanted to see Air Passenger Duty (APD) scrapped, but quickly added this was unlikely to happen.
“I hope to see a real terms freeze on APD," he said. "There's a real recognition that it's impacting the competitiveness of the UK. And on business rates reform, we need to see what they are going to do for retail. We need to see some meat on the bone with that.”
Petherbridge noted how previous political administrations had also made noises suggesting they were looking at business rates reform without changing anything.
'Where will we be without that opportunity?'
The UK's relationship with European Union was also dissected on stage, with Pearce noting how there had been "positive comments" on the topic in recent weeks, particularly during Prime Minister Andy Burnham's speech at last week's Labour Party conference.
Lo Bue-Said said: "We're an industry that relies on seamless travel between countries so anything that helps our companies deliver that is a good thing. We've had such issues since Brexit. Without question, the EU are our closest allies, our closest land mass. The ability to have a much closer relationship is without question a real positive."
Petherbridge admitted the EU Entry-Exit System (EES), which was fully rolled out earlier this year, had been "incredible difficult", but flagged it had effectively been suspended until the end of 2026 for nine countries.
However, he added EES did not define the EU-UK relationship unless the country was to go "all the way" and rejoin the bloc. "We've probably been the biggest positive voice in the relationship between the relationship with the EU and UK. The number of EU workers has gone down since Brexit by about 70% because you cannot get work permits or visas."
The upcoming EU-UK Summit, provisionally scheduled for 20 November, will "hopefully" finalise a EU Youth Mobility scheme between the EU and the UK that would "open the door to thousands of staff", he added.
"That is important to the future of our industry now," he continued. "Half of our industry leaders worked overseas early on in their career. If we shut down that opportunity, where are we in 20 to 30 years' time?
"Things like eGate extension, wider mobility for younger people, mutual recognition for professional qualifications all of that only happens if we have a better relationship with the EU from where we were certainly under the Conservative government."
