Hospitality update – November 2021

The impact on UK travel abroad, due to Coronavirus, was devastating. UK residents made 1 million visits abroad by air in Quarter 2 of 2021, which was 95% fewer than Quarter 2 of 2019. UK residents spent £1,122 million on visits abroad in Quarter 2 2021; this was 93% less than in Quarter 2 2019. (These figures only include visits by air as insufficient sea and Tunnel data were collected because of coronavirus restrictions. However administrative data for sea and Tunnel travel shows an approximate drop of 95% in passenger numbers. Sea and Tunnel numbers were approximately 20% of all traffic pre-coronavirus.)

What ABTA (the Association of British Travel Agents) says: “The re-introduction of pre-departure tests will be a huge blow to travellers and an already devastated travel industry . . . which is now fast approaching the key booking season for next summer . . . the Chancellor must now consider the reintroduction of furlough for the travel industry to avoid further job losses. Travellers must also be supported with measures taken to offset the cost of these additional tests by reducing the cost of PCR testing - including a price cap and the removal of VAT. What Travel Agents say (for now):

• Business is picking up but we spend our entire life amending bookings as Government rules are constantly changing

• We believe Omicron won’t be a major problem for travellers as, so far, there have been no deaths, no individuals in hospital and symptoms are mild but Omicron could mutate into something far more dangerous

• What makes people nervous is they can travel to a destination on green or amber, then find they are on the red list when wanting to return to the UK

• Business is tough and many small travel agents won’t survive BUT people still want to travel and to the sun

• We believe that travel will once more move forward but mainly between countries that have best managed their Covid outbreaks with solid containment strategies. We need to maintain (or increase) our marketing presence in order to be at the forefront of this curve