ABTA – The Travel Association is able to reveal that 39,000 jobs have already been lost or placed at risk across the outbound travel sector since the crisis started, and when supply chains are also considered this number amounts to over 90,000 people affected.
The situation when it comes to jobs in the travel industry has reached a critical point, with measures to control the pandemic affecting the market, which is why, today, ABTA has written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer to ask for tailored support in the form of a package of measures to support businesses and employees.
ABTA finds the Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has been a significant help for businesses in the travel industry, with nine in ten businesses taking part in the scheme to support staff.
However, 65% of businesses have either had to make redundancies or have started a consultation process. Despite this, there is optimism that the travel industry can recover, if offered the right support by Government, with four in ten businesses confident travel can return to 2019 levels by 2022.
To do this, according to ABTA’s plan, the Government should adopt a regionalised approach to quarantine rules. In the absence of a regional approach to Foreign Office travel advice and quarantine rules the Association highlights it is difficult to see how the UK can reopen travel to critical trade partners, including the US, in the foreseeable future.
At the same time, if the travel industry is to retain the maximum number of jobs, it is vital that consumers are incentivised to book holidays. With the peak booking season starting from December, ABTA is therefore urging the Government to use the Autumn Budget to announce an Air Passenger Duty (APD) holiday covering Summer 2021.
If the Government does not act with tailored support for travel, as it has for other sectors, 83% of firms estimate that it will have a critical or serious impact on their business.
While public health is rightly the Government’s priority right now, few sectors in the UK economy have been hit as hard as travel by the measures used to control the pandemic. With only 65% of businesses operating again, many parts of the travel industry remain shuttered, such as cruise and school travel operators. Moreover, if a second wave inspired a further shutdown, 96% of travel businesses report it would have a critical or serious impact on their ability to survive.
Mark Tanzer, ABTA’s Chief Executive, says: “With the Government’s stop start measures, the restart of travel has not gone as hoped for the industry, and sadly businesses continue to be adversely affected and jobs are being lost at an alarming rate. Coming towards the end of the traditional period for peak booking, we have hit a critical point as existing Government measures to support businesses begin to taper off, the consequence of which, according to this survey of ABTA Members will be ruinous for more people’s livelihoods.
“Travel desperately needs the Government in its next review to provide tailored support or tens of thousands more jobs will be lost. We have already seen well-known and respected businesses that would normally be successful falling into administration, and more are sadly set to follow unless the Government can Save Future Travel.”
