Mark Tanzer addresses ABTA Travel Convention delegates in Greece
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sberesford@abt… Tue, 10/08/2024 - 07:38
The Travel Convention marks that time of the year when we take stock of where we are – individually and collectively – and of where we’re going.
The theme of this year’s Convention is ‘Shaping our Future’, and all of the onstage and breakout sessions are designed to shine a torch into the future and help us find the pathway forward.
It’s a pathway that will have twists and turns, and maybe some cul de sacs which we need to reverse back up – but it’s a journey that we can embark on with confidence. We have the responsibility and power to shape the future – not just as the travel industry but as customers ourselves and as citizens – and it is ‘Our’ future – a future that requires us to work together, even as we compete.
When I look around the room today and see the breadth of expertise here, it brings home how complex our industry is – truly a ‘sector of sectors’ – and if we want to continue the amazing success story that tourism has been over the past 75 years, we need to find common cause in tackling the challenges ahead.
I choose 75 years as a landmark because 2025 will be ABTA’s 75th birthday – here since the beginning of international tourism on a large scale. Now is not the time to stroll down travel’s memory lane, but there is another story that might give us confidence as we look ahead.
In 1950 the coal industry in the UK employed 800,000 people, roughly the same as are now employed directly and indirectly in the outbound travel industry. Last week saw the closure of the last coal-fired power plant as the UK leads the way in moving to renewable power sources.
This change will not have been without pain for individuals and communities, but innovation, technology, investment, and re-skilling have brought us to what most people would view as a better place.
The travel industry will also have to adapt and change to succeed in a low-carbon future, and, of course, will have to take the most important stakeholder – the customer – with us.
We’ll be hearing at various points in the next two days how customer attitudes and behaviours are changing – from Alistair and Danielle at Deloitte on the major forces reshaping the consumer industry, from Debbie Marshall about the next wave of ‘silver’ consumers, and, from Minette Batters about the very different world of farming and food.
ABTA has just published the second iteration of our Travel Confidence Index, which shows a year-on-year increase as we move further away from the disruption of the pandemic.
People are taking on average more holidays per year, as our latest Holiday Habits report, launched today, demonstrates. Understandably and gratifyingly, it also shows that people are increasingly relying on the support of travel organisers to bolster their confidence.
The trust in travel professionals is counter to the general decline in trust in the UK – in politicians, in media, in institutions – and is a tribute to the hard work and values of all of you here today, and the wider ABTA membership.
Also bucking a general trend has been the astonishing recovery of travel and tourism since the pandemic, outperforming every other consumer product and service as higher interest rates have led to general belt-tightening.
ABTA members’ aggregate sales exceed pre-Covid levels, and for the first time, we now hold over one billion pounds of bonds, driven by growth in members’ sales.
We do face challenges on a number of fronts, of course, but we move forward from a position of strength.
As veterans of The Travel Convention know, we take a funnel approach to our view of the world – looking at Our World – Our Industry – and Your Business. Ros Atkins will be up shortly to give his take on the current scene, with major conflicts and shifts in power taking place across the world. And possibly the most momentous shift in power– the US Election – is yet to come.
At home, we’ve gone through a (thankfully peaceful!) transfer of power following the General Election. At ABTA we’ve been engaging with the new ministerial teams to push forward our own manifesto for our members.
In particular, we’re looking for the new Government to help accelerate the production of sustainable aviation fuel, and to resist any layering of taxes that will put holidays beyond the reach of our customers, and their voters.
The Government has confirmed a Bill on a Revenue Support Mechanism to encourage investment in the development of our own sustainable fuel industry. That’s a start, but we need to see more central resource put towards the development of these emerging technologies.
Without this investment now, the commitment to be using 10% Sustainable Aviation Fuels on all flights by 2030 will be unachievable, or prohibitively expensive. The funds are there: the Office of Budget Responsibility forecast in this year’s Spring Budget that Air Passenger Duty will rise from £3.8 billion in 2023/24 to £5.9 billion in 2028/29.
Surely this growing consumer levy should be used - at least in part – to keep UK international travel energy compliant and viable.
We’re also continuing to push hard for the Government to extend the existing Youth Mobility Scheme – either at an EU level on a bilateral basis with European destinations – to allow young people to gain experience working overseas in the travel industry, while making it clear that this is quite distinct from the broader freedom of movement debate.
In the past years, economic growth and productivity in the UK have been anemic, to say the least. The new Government has made growth a priority, in fact, an absolute necessity, if it is to balance the books and deliver future spending plans.
Travel and tourism must be an integral part of their growth strategy – not just because of the economic value of the industry but because of the international connectivity it delivers to so many other sectors.
Investment continues to be made into our industry – a sign of confidence that growth can be sustained. Tomorrow Rick Jones and Eleanor Scott from PWC will be looking at investment trends and M&A activity to follow the money and see what it suggests about the future.
While world events, elections, interest rates, and the state of the economy have preoccupied us over the past twelve months, the larger-scale challenge of global warming and climate change has intensified.
We have become used to news reports of the hottest, the wettest, the strongest, and the evidence of accelerating change is all around us.
It's quite possible that in the future certain types of holidays, in certain locations, will become unviable, and the general unpredictability of the weather increases business risk throughout the supply chain.
Climate change is a problem for the world, and in travel, we are taking our responsibility seriously to drive to a low-carbon future. Investment in new fuels, new technologies, new aircraft, and cruise fleets will move us in the right direction, but we need to push for low-carbon energy efficiency throughout the entire supply chain.
I’m delighted that Costa Navarino is a Gold Certified Travelife Resort. Travelife is ABTA’s own certification company that audits hotels against a rigorous set of criteria – social as well as environmental – to help drive change in business practice.
At ABTA we strongly believe that tourism is a force for good, and if you want evidence of that just look around. When we came here in 2015 Costa Navarino impressed me hugely by its commitment to creating local employment, sourcing food locally, and maintaining the natural environment.
Seeing it grow over the last decade, while preserving those values, demonstrates that you can indeed deliver tourism responsibly and thrive commercially.
Creating a strong bond between the destination community and its visitors is essential as we look to manage the problem of over-tourism. We cannot turn a blind eye to over-tourism – saying it’s really due only to the growth of the private rental market.
Finding the right balance between the interests of the hosts – both as workers and as residents – and the visiting tourists is an ongoing challenge, one requiring adaptation on both sides. Managing seasonality and predictable peaks will help ease the strain, and communities need to be prepared to meet that changing pattern of demand.
I do believe that the travel industry is at a point of inflexion, and that it will look quite different when ABTA reaches our century in 25 years time. The challenges we face are not existential, but they do need us to recognise the need for change and to work collaboratively to build a future that delivers for all.
In 1934 the poet, Ezra Pound, created the slogan for Modernism – ‘Make it New’. He didn’t say throw out the old – just ‘Make it New’.
We really have no choice. I hope that the next two days give you some thoughts and ideas as to how together we can build on our success, and Make it New!
Continue reading...
Full Page image
sberesford@abt… Tue, 10/08/2024 - 07:38
The Travel Convention marks that time of the year when we take stock of where we are – individually and collectively – and of where we’re going.
The theme of this year’s Convention is ‘Shaping our Future’, and all of the onstage and breakout sessions are designed to shine a torch into the future and help us find the pathway forward.
It’s a pathway that will have twists and turns, and maybe some cul de sacs which we need to reverse back up – but it’s a journey that we can embark on with confidence. We have the responsibility and power to shape the future – not just as the travel industry but as customers ourselves and as citizens – and it is ‘Our’ future – a future that requires us to work together, even as we compete.
When I look around the room today and see the breadth of expertise here, it brings home how complex our industry is – truly a ‘sector of sectors’ – and if we want to continue the amazing success story that tourism has been over the past 75 years, we need to find common cause in tackling the challenges ahead.
I choose 75 years as a landmark because 2025 will be ABTA’s 75th birthday – here since the beginning of international tourism on a large scale. Now is not the time to stroll down travel’s memory lane, but there is another story that might give us confidence as we look ahead.
In 1950 the coal industry in the UK employed 800,000 people, roughly the same as are now employed directly and indirectly in the outbound travel industry. Last week saw the closure of the last coal-fired power plant as the UK leads the way in moving to renewable power sources.
This change will not have been without pain for individuals and communities, but innovation, technology, investment, and re-skilling have brought us to what most people would view as a better place.
The travel industry will also have to adapt and change to succeed in a low-carbon future, and, of course, will have to take the most important stakeholder – the customer – with us.
We’ll be hearing at various points in the next two days how customer attitudes and behaviours are changing – from Alistair and Danielle at Deloitte on the major forces reshaping the consumer industry, from Debbie Marshall about the next wave of ‘silver’ consumers, and, from Minette Batters about the very different world of farming and food.
ABTA has just published the second iteration of our Travel Confidence Index, which shows a year-on-year increase as we move further away from the disruption of the pandemic.
People are taking on average more holidays per year, as our latest Holiday Habits report, launched today, demonstrates. Understandably and gratifyingly, it also shows that people are increasingly relying on the support of travel organisers to bolster their confidence.
The trust in travel professionals is counter to the general decline in trust in the UK – in politicians, in media, in institutions – and is a tribute to the hard work and values of all of you here today, and the wider ABTA membership.
Also bucking a general trend has been the astonishing recovery of travel and tourism since the pandemic, outperforming every other consumer product and service as higher interest rates have led to general belt-tightening.
ABTA members’ aggregate sales exceed pre-Covid levels, and for the first time, we now hold over one billion pounds of bonds, driven by growth in members’ sales.
We do face challenges on a number of fronts, of course, but we move forward from a position of strength.
As veterans of The Travel Convention know, we take a funnel approach to our view of the world – looking at Our World – Our Industry – and Your Business. Ros Atkins will be up shortly to give his take on the current scene, with major conflicts and shifts in power taking place across the world. And possibly the most momentous shift in power– the US Election – is yet to come.
At home, we’ve gone through a (thankfully peaceful!) transfer of power following the General Election. At ABTA we’ve been engaging with the new ministerial teams to push forward our own manifesto for our members.
In particular, we’re looking for the new Government to help accelerate the production of sustainable aviation fuel, and to resist any layering of taxes that will put holidays beyond the reach of our customers, and their voters.
The Government has confirmed a Bill on a Revenue Support Mechanism to encourage investment in the development of our own sustainable fuel industry. That’s a start, but we need to see more central resource put towards the development of these emerging technologies.
Without this investment now, the commitment to be using 10% Sustainable Aviation Fuels on all flights by 2030 will be unachievable, or prohibitively expensive. The funds are there: the Office of Budget Responsibility forecast in this year’s Spring Budget that Air Passenger Duty will rise from £3.8 billion in 2023/24 to £5.9 billion in 2028/29.
Surely this growing consumer levy should be used - at least in part – to keep UK international travel energy compliant and viable.
We’re also continuing to push hard for the Government to extend the existing Youth Mobility Scheme – either at an EU level on a bilateral basis with European destinations – to allow young people to gain experience working overseas in the travel industry, while making it clear that this is quite distinct from the broader freedom of movement debate.
In the past years, economic growth and productivity in the UK have been anemic, to say the least. The new Government has made growth a priority, in fact, an absolute necessity, if it is to balance the books and deliver future spending plans.
Travel and tourism must be an integral part of their growth strategy – not just because of the economic value of the industry but because of the international connectivity it delivers to so many other sectors.
Investment continues to be made into our industry – a sign of confidence that growth can be sustained. Tomorrow Rick Jones and Eleanor Scott from PWC will be looking at investment trends and M&A activity to follow the money and see what it suggests about the future.
While world events, elections, interest rates, and the state of the economy have preoccupied us over the past twelve months, the larger-scale challenge of global warming and climate change has intensified.
We have become used to news reports of the hottest, the wettest, the strongest, and the evidence of accelerating change is all around us.
It's quite possible that in the future certain types of holidays, in certain locations, will become unviable, and the general unpredictability of the weather increases business risk throughout the supply chain.
Climate change is a problem for the world, and in travel, we are taking our responsibility seriously to drive to a low-carbon future. Investment in new fuels, new technologies, new aircraft, and cruise fleets will move us in the right direction, but we need to push for low-carbon energy efficiency throughout the entire supply chain.
I’m delighted that Costa Navarino is a Gold Certified Travelife Resort. Travelife is ABTA’s own certification company that audits hotels against a rigorous set of criteria – social as well as environmental – to help drive change in business practice.
At ABTA we strongly believe that tourism is a force for good, and if you want evidence of that just look around. When we came here in 2015 Costa Navarino impressed me hugely by its commitment to creating local employment, sourcing food locally, and maintaining the natural environment.
Seeing it grow over the last decade, while preserving those values, demonstrates that you can indeed deliver tourism responsibly and thrive commercially.
Creating a strong bond between the destination community and its visitors is essential as we look to manage the problem of over-tourism. We cannot turn a blind eye to over-tourism – saying it’s really due only to the growth of the private rental market.
Finding the right balance between the interests of the hosts – both as workers and as residents – and the visiting tourists is an ongoing challenge, one requiring adaptation on both sides. Managing seasonality and predictable peaks will help ease the strain, and communities need to be prepared to meet that changing pattern of demand.
I do believe that the travel industry is at a point of inflexion, and that it will look quite different when ABTA reaches our century in 25 years time. The challenges we face are not existential, but they do need us to recognise the need for change and to work collaboratively to build a future that delivers for all.
In 1934 the poet, Ezra Pound, created the slogan for Modernism – ‘Make it New’. He didn’t say throw out the old – just ‘Make it New’.
We really have no choice. I hope that the next two days give you some thoughts and ideas as to how together we can build on our success, and Make it New!
Continue reading...
