One of Britain’s trade envoys has said that face-to-face
business meetings are vital to the recovery of the economy.
Speaking at a virtual event entitled The Show Must
Go On organised by The Business Travel Association, MP Mark Menzies said, “I
think a lot of people are desperate to get back on a plane. A lot of investors
in the UK, when they are spending a lot of their own money or their investors’
money, want to look at things in person. There will never be a substitute
for going there, seeing it and experiencing it.”
Menzies acts as a trade envoy for Chile, Colombia,
Peru and Argentina and sits on the international trade select committee. He also expressed
concern during his virtual conference session that Covid would reverse the pre-pandemic increases in air capacity from the UK to
South America.
“Before Covid, you were seeing so much capacity
coming into the South American market. I hope that we can get that back to what
it needs to be. [Britain’s] success will depend on it and we don’t want to have
to fly via Madrid or Miami, we want to go direct,” he said.
At the event, BTA CEO Clive Wratten said: “The last
12 months have been tough for us all and we must not forget over 50 per cent of
our travel industry colleagues have lost their jobs throughout this pandemic,
with many still fighting to find new ones. It is a long and difficult roadmap
back to normality, but by working together we can rebuild, revitalise,
reenergise and reinvigorate our beloved industry once more. The show really
must and will go on.”