Mark Tanzer address to ABTA Travel Matters Conference – 03 December 2024
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gwilkinson@abt… Tue, 12/03/2024 - 10:50
ABTA‘s Travel Matters conference is the travel and tourism industry’s forum for debating the political and policy issues that matter most to our sector. It brings together an audience of CEOs and executive directors, political figures, government stakeholders and national and travel trade media representatives.
At today’s conference Travel in Turbulent Times, Mark Tanzer, Chief Executive of ABTA, opened proceedings in Westminster. A full copy of his speech is as follows:
You don’t need me to rehearse how turbulent the world is right now, and how it will, in all probability, stay that way. Universal media coverage brings far away events into our homes and our lives, and their impact resonates across the globe.
I would like to take a few minutes to describe how I see the world of travel and tourism – ABTA’s world – fitting into that wider context – the challenges it faces, but also hope for a future that will allow us to continue to make our distinctive economic, social and cultural contribution. And how that hope depends on a shared vision and partnership with Government and policymakers in the UK and in destinations.
Some of you with long memories will remember this graphic which made its debut several years ago. Affectionately referred to as the ‘doughnut’ it sets out ABTA’s agenda as a virtuous circle, whose successive segments are interdependent if we are to succeed in the fundamental objective of building successful businesses
Our journey round the circle, taking us through a high level profit and loss structure for the industry, starts and starts again with building successful businesses. Funded as we are by our members, that is ABTA’s raison d’être.
The new Government has stated that economic growth is its priority. ABTA’s most recent research shows the substantial contribution to GDP, employment and taxation made by the outbound travel sector. And that contribution is forecast to grow, faster than the wider economy, given the right policy and infrastructure framework, making it attractive to investors and workers alike.
The sustained demand for travel has been demonstrated since its resumption after the pandemic. The priority that customers give to leisure travel and visiting friends and family has been clear even throughout recent belt tightening.
But our members are by no means out of the woods yet. Many still have balance sheets with a heavy debt load, and the National Insurance and Minimum Wage increases recently announced in the budget will put acute pressure on already thin margins.
Time and again the travel industry has proved its resilience through turbulent times, and it should be a cornerstone of the Government’s growth strategy.
A successful business starts with a Quality Product. Of course, ABTA Members spend day and night ensuring that everything in their control is done to give their customers a high-quality experience. But some things are not in their control. For example, the airport and aviation experience.
This can create problems - in the UK - as the recent air traffic control outage demonstrated - or in destination with the impending introduction of the European Entry – Exit system. The Government must ensure that NATS - as part of the nation’s critical infrastructure - is adequately resourced and held accountable. And we would welcome the Government joining our representations to rethink the rollout of EES to avoid creating long queues for our customers.
If you have a high quality product, you then need customers who are confident to buy it – to book and to travel. Prime of course in maintaining confidence – particularly in turbulent times - is physical safety and security. We continue to rely on the Foreign Office’s advisory notices, and on their response to emergencies, and I can reassure you that ABTA’s operating relationship with FCDO, built over many years, is as strong as ever.
Confidence to book also means confidence that you’re not going to lose your money, and we eagerly await the outcome of the reviews of the ATOL scheme and the Package Travel Regulations. Our view is that the ATOL scheme has delivered confidence to customers – refunds and repatriations – over many years and at no cost to the general taxpayer. We’re always open to sensible modification and modernisation, but the industry must be given time to adapt to changes in the way money is protected.
And for certain groups confidence comes down to the knowledge that their particular accessibility requirements are communicated and catered for. We’re delighted to be participating in the recently formed Department for Transport Accessibility Working Group and will be updating our checklist for passengers and guidance for members as part of this work.
Tourism is, of course a partnership between visitors and destinations, and the success of our members’ business in the future depends on destinations’ thriving. We saw during the pandemic the catastrophic economic and social impact of no tourism on tourist destinations. Now we are starting to see signs of the opposite phenomenon – protests at overtourism. These are by no means widespread, but they are real, and suggest that destinations need a new model of flow management that measures and balances impacts on residents and the environment.
Some destinations – Mallorca comes to mind – are already well embarked on this journey, and we look forward to working with them to see how incoming visitors – our customers – can play a role in that new model.
Closely related to the impact that tourists have on destination is the impact of climate change. We have seen a run of successive records and extreme weather events – the most recent being the tragic floods in Spain – and the continued viability of the travel industry needs us to demonstrate that we are taking action – particularly in the drive towards a low carbon future.
ABTA is part of Sustainable Aviation, a cross industry group driving innovation and progress towards net zero. We are reassured by the support the Government has expressed for building a Sustainable Aviation Fuel industry, and I look forward to hearing from the Aviation and Maritime Minister shortly. We also urgently need an accelerated modernisation of airspace management to improve efficiency and reduce carbon in aviation, and we hope to see similar policy support to ensure progress on the transition of the cruise sector, too.
Decarbonisation is just one part of our responsibility to the planet. ABTA will continue to help members to reduce waste and our programme of training events now includes introductory programmes on the role tourism can play in promoting and safeguarding biodiversity.
Like every industry, we are in a war for talent, and need to demonstrate that travel and tourism is a workplace open to all, where successful careers can be built. We have been working with the Department for Education to ensure that relevant Level 3 qualifications are available – following the previous government’s decision to de-fund existing schemes. We welcome the fact that the Government has paused this decision, and we await the outcome of the review, expected by the end of the year.
And we shall continue to make to case for the introduction of Youth Mobility Agreements with our important European destinations – either bilaterally or at the EU level. These agreements do not confer residency rights, but would be a way for young people to gain valuable international experience in support of our customers overseas, as part of the Government’s mission to expand employment opportunities.
As we continue our journey through the notional P&L, we come to taxation. The truth is we want to pay tax! But the tax that is paid by successful businesses and its thriving workforce!
What we must avoid is a layering of taxes that drives the costs of holidays beyond the reach of our customers. We have already had a 14% increase in Air Passenger Duty on short haul economy flights announced in the recent budget. We must resist successive environmental taxes at the UK and EU level that throttle demand and restrict travel’s ability to grow and contribute economically.
And finally, to complete the circle, we need to ensure that outbound travel is recognised for the contribution it makes. Today we’re releasing the headline findings of the latest edition of our research into the value of outbound travel. It shows the outbound travel industry generated £51.6bn Gross Value Added to the UK economy, an increase of 5% on pre-pandemic levels, as well as supporting more than 800 thousand jobs across the country through its extended supply chain.
I said at the beginning that the ‘doughnut’ sets an agenda for ABTA on behalf of our members. And at the centre of that is the ABTA brand, standing as it does for confidence at the heart of travel. Customers across the country recognise and trust the ABTA brand, and that gives us licence but also responsibility.
There are very real challenges ahead, but we are ready to face them head on, and, together with the Government, build the foundations for the next 75 years of travel.
Continue reading...
Full Page image
gwilkinson@abt… Tue, 12/03/2024 - 10:50
ABTA‘s Travel Matters conference is the travel and tourism industry’s forum for debating the political and policy issues that matter most to our sector. It brings together an audience of CEOs and executive directors, political figures, government stakeholders and national and travel trade media representatives.
At today’s conference Travel in Turbulent Times, Mark Tanzer, Chief Executive of ABTA, opened proceedings in Westminster. A full copy of his speech is as follows:
You don’t need me to rehearse how turbulent the world is right now, and how it will, in all probability, stay that way. Universal media coverage brings far away events into our homes and our lives, and their impact resonates across the globe.
I would like to take a few minutes to describe how I see the world of travel and tourism – ABTA’s world – fitting into that wider context – the challenges it faces, but also hope for a future that will allow us to continue to make our distinctive economic, social and cultural contribution. And how that hope depends on a shared vision and partnership with Government and policymakers in the UK and in destinations.
Some of you with long memories will remember this graphic which made its debut several years ago. Affectionately referred to as the ‘doughnut’ it sets out ABTA’s agenda as a virtuous circle, whose successive segments are interdependent if we are to succeed in the fundamental objective of building successful businesses
Our journey round the circle, taking us through a high level profit and loss structure for the industry, starts and starts again with building successful businesses. Funded as we are by our members, that is ABTA’s raison d’être.
The new Government has stated that economic growth is its priority. ABTA’s most recent research shows the substantial contribution to GDP, employment and taxation made by the outbound travel sector. And that contribution is forecast to grow, faster than the wider economy, given the right policy and infrastructure framework, making it attractive to investors and workers alike.
The sustained demand for travel has been demonstrated since its resumption after the pandemic. The priority that customers give to leisure travel and visiting friends and family has been clear even throughout recent belt tightening.
But our members are by no means out of the woods yet. Many still have balance sheets with a heavy debt load, and the National Insurance and Minimum Wage increases recently announced in the budget will put acute pressure on already thin margins.
Time and again the travel industry has proved its resilience through turbulent times, and it should be a cornerstone of the Government’s growth strategy.
A successful business starts with a Quality Product. Of course, ABTA Members spend day and night ensuring that everything in their control is done to give their customers a high-quality experience. But some things are not in their control. For example, the airport and aviation experience.
This can create problems - in the UK - as the recent air traffic control outage demonstrated - or in destination with the impending introduction of the European Entry – Exit system. The Government must ensure that NATS - as part of the nation’s critical infrastructure - is adequately resourced and held accountable. And we would welcome the Government joining our representations to rethink the rollout of EES to avoid creating long queues for our customers.
If you have a high quality product, you then need customers who are confident to buy it – to book and to travel. Prime of course in maintaining confidence – particularly in turbulent times - is physical safety and security. We continue to rely on the Foreign Office’s advisory notices, and on their response to emergencies, and I can reassure you that ABTA’s operating relationship with FCDO, built over many years, is as strong as ever.
Confidence to book also means confidence that you’re not going to lose your money, and we eagerly await the outcome of the reviews of the ATOL scheme and the Package Travel Regulations. Our view is that the ATOL scheme has delivered confidence to customers – refunds and repatriations – over many years and at no cost to the general taxpayer. We’re always open to sensible modification and modernisation, but the industry must be given time to adapt to changes in the way money is protected.
And for certain groups confidence comes down to the knowledge that their particular accessibility requirements are communicated and catered for. We’re delighted to be participating in the recently formed Department for Transport Accessibility Working Group and will be updating our checklist for passengers and guidance for members as part of this work.
Tourism is, of course a partnership between visitors and destinations, and the success of our members’ business in the future depends on destinations’ thriving. We saw during the pandemic the catastrophic economic and social impact of no tourism on tourist destinations. Now we are starting to see signs of the opposite phenomenon – protests at overtourism. These are by no means widespread, but they are real, and suggest that destinations need a new model of flow management that measures and balances impacts on residents and the environment.
Some destinations – Mallorca comes to mind – are already well embarked on this journey, and we look forward to working with them to see how incoming visitors – our customers – can play a role in that new model.
Closely related to the impact that tourists have on destination is the impact of climate change. We have seen a run of successive records and extreme weather events – the most recent being the tragic floods in Spain – and the continued viability of the travel industry needs us to demonstrate that we are taking action – particularly in the drive towards a low carbon future.
ABTA is part of Sustainable Aviation, a cross industry group driving innovation and progress towards net zero. We are reassured by the support the Government has expressed for building a Sustainable Aviation Fuel industry, and I look forward to hearing from the Aviation and Maritime Minister shortly. We also urgently need an accelerated modernisation of airspace management to improve efficiency and reduce carbon in aviation, and we hope to see similar policy support to ensure progress on the transition of the cruise sector, too.
Decarbonisation is just one part of our responsibility to the planet. ABTA will continue to help members to reduce waste and our programme of training events now includes introductory programmes on the role tourism can play in promoting and safeguarding biodiversity.
Like every industry, we are in a war for talent, and need to demonstrate that travel and tourism is a workplace open to all, where successful careers can be built. We have been working with the Department for Education to ensure that relevant Level 3 qualifications are available – following the previous government’s decision to de-fund existing schemes. We welcome the fact that the Government has paused this decision, and we await the outcome of the review, expected by the end of the year.
And we shall continue to make to case for the introduction of Youth Mobility Agreements with our important European destinations – either bilaterally or at the EU level. These agreements do not confer residency rights, but would be a way for young people to gain valuable international experience in support of our customers overseas, as part of the Government’s mission to expand employment opportunities.
As we continue our journey through the notional P&L, we come to taxation. The truth is we want to pay tax! But the tax that is paid by successful businesses and its thriving workforce!
What we must avoid is a layering of taxes that drives the costs of holidays beyond the reach of our customers. We have already had a 14% increase in Air Passenger Duty on short haul economy flights announced in the recent budget. We must resist successive environmental taxes at the UK and EU level that throttle demand and restrict travel’s ability to grow and contribute economically.
And finally, to complete the circle, we need to ensure that outbound travel is recognised for the contribution it makes. Today we’re releasing the headline findings of the latest edition of our research into the value of outbound travel. It shows the outbound travel industry generated £51.6bn Gross Value Added to the UK economy, an increase of 5% on pre-pandemic levels, as well as supporting more than 800 thousand jobs across the country through its extended supply chain.
I said at the beginning that the ‘doughnut’ sets an agenda for ABTA on behalf of our members. And at the centre of that is the ABTA brand, standing as it does for confidence at the heart of travel. Customers across the country recognise and trust the ABTA brand, and that gives us licence but also responsibility.
There are very real challenges ahead, but we are ready to face them head on, and, together with the Government, build the foundations for the next 75 years of travel.
Continue reading...
