A coalition of travel organisations including the Business Travel Association and the Advantage Travel Partnership has urged the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak to deliver tailored financial support to the sector in the March Budget.
The Save Future Travel Coalition – which is made of up 12 travel organisations – has today sent a letter to the Chancellor arguing that the need for support is becoming even more critical as businesses head towards 12 months of lost income, and deadlines for government-backed loans and the end of furlough approach in April.
Writing in the letter, the Coalition says, “As you prepare for the Budget, we urge the government to consider the following priorities to save future travel:
• Expand the grant schemes available to support all travel businesses. Liquidity is the single biggest challenge facing travel businesses today, but existing grants schemes do not address the trading consequences of severe restrictions on international travel. With the vaccine rollout progressing well, companies need help to bridge the gap and survive through to recovery.
• Extend other financial support mechanisms, such as furlough, VAT deferrals, business rates relief, loan re-payments, into the next financial year. It is particularly important that the furlough regime be extended in recognition that travel will likely restart gradually. To save jobs, salary support must be kept in place until recovery in the sector is gathering pace.
• Enable travel businesses to trade their way out of the crisis in the coming months. The Government must work with the industry to put in a place a roadmap to recovery, which ensures stability for travellers and travel companies, and crucially, which uses existing mitigation measures to ensure travel can resume in a risk-controlled manner.”
Despite the calls, the coalition says it understands that “public health is the priority and understands the government needs to take the steps it feels necessary to stop the spread of the virus and new variants entering the country”.
Clive Wratten, chief executive of the Business Travel Association, said: “The business travel community has been almost entirely forgotten. If we are to be a global Britain, business travel must commence at the earliest safe date and there needs to be an industry to support this vital economic contributor. Without targeted support, many businesses will rapidly collapse and thousands of jobs will be lost.”
Julia Lo Bue Said, CEO, Advantage Travel Partnership, said: “While the policy measures introduced, such as quarantine, travel corridors, testing, and localised restrictions on travel, are understandable from a public health perspective, they also diminish consumer confidence and damage trade.
“Yet, to date, these measures have not been combined with tailored financial support targeted at addressing the consequences of these policies for the businesses affected – as a result our members are under enormous pressure. We need government to address this as a matter of urgency and work with the industry to develop a roadmap to reopen travel.”