Abta and the Save Future Travel Coalition are urging industry members to lobby their MPs this week ahead of key Parliamentary debates on aviation, tourism and Covid.
MPs will debate the impact of the crisis on the aviation and tourism sectors on Thursday and coalition leaders believe thousands of industry members and supporters phoning and emailing MPs this week can make a difference.
The Advantage Travel Partnership, AITO The Specialist Travel Association, the Scottish agents association the SPAA, the Business Travel Association, inbound association UKinbound and the Association Of Touring & Adventure Suppliers (ATAS) joined Abta last week in issuing a series of demands to save jobs and businesses in travel.
The associations want to see regionalised quarantine restrictions, Covid-tests on travellers to reduce quarantine times and measures to support businesses and incentivise travel through the winter.
Abta head of public affairs Luke Petherbridge said: “We need a concerted push. All of us in the Save Future Travel Coalition have been working together throughout the crisis, but Parliament is back and the Budget is coming up, this is the time to re-engage with MPs.”
“There will be a general debate on aviation [on Thursday] followed by a debate on tourism and Covid 19. We want to get outbound travel into that.
“It’s an opportunity to present the industry’s asks to Parliament.
“We’ll be briefing MPs ahead of the debates, [but] it’s time to pick up the phone or email your MP to urge them to get behind this.
“This is a call to action to the industry.”
Almost 26,000 industry members and supporters contacted their MPs within two weeks of the launch of the Save Future Travel campaign in April at the height of the refunds crisis and the campaign to get Refund Credit Notes officially recognised.
The coalition has agreed five key demands to boost the outbound, inbound, leisure and business travel sectors. Petherbridge said: “We need regionalised travel corridors and Foreign Office advice, a testing regime, an APD holiday to incentivise consumers for next summer, recovery grants and other business support for SMEs including travel agents and ongoing salary support.”
He said: “The government incentivised consumers to support the hospitality sector, an APD holiday is the incentive lever for travel. They need to pull the lever.”
Petherbridge added: “Salary support does not necessarily mean an extension of the furlough scheme. They could create a scheme to support businesses that have not been able to recover.”
Abta is also working with Airlines UK, the Airport Operators Association and Iata alongside the Future Aviation Group of MPs which is pressuring the government to do more to support the sector.
More information here on Save Future Travel.
