The industry has welcomed a government pledge to support small businesses through the recession with a £350m aid package – but said more must be done.
Small businesses in England will be first in line for training under the Train to Gain scheme, said the government.
They will also have better access to financial information on maintaining cash flow through the recession and business ‘health checks’ by finance experts to help identify problems early on.
As part of the plans, the government pledged to settle its own bills with small businesses within ten days to help their cash flow. Regional Development Agencies in England, which spend around £750m per year with suppliers, have signed up to this target.
A spokeswoman for ABTA said the 10 day promise would benefit travel management companies who have public sector accounts.
“The public sector can be a big source of business for some business travel agents and the public sector are not renowned for paying their bills on time – so this could make quite a difference to them.”
She added: “We can be thankful that we’re getting some support but we could be getting a lot more.”
Advantage Travel Centres director of business travel Norman Gage added: “Hopefully this will improve the cash flow for business travel agents. However, I think these measures are too little, too late from the government.”
The Guild of Travel Management Companies chief executive Philip Carlisle also welcomed the news.
“We are certain that all GTMC members, whatever their size, will welcome the intention of more departments paying their suppliers within 10 days. We hope that this target will be adopted centrally as well as regionally.”