The number of travel agency outlets in the UK has dropped from 7,215 to 4,016 in the past decade.
The figures were revealed by Ken McLeod, corporate director of Advantage Travel Partnership, during a panel session at the consortium’s conference in Dubai on Friday.
The session, entitled ‘On The Record’, also featured Abta chief executive Mark Tanzer and GTMC chief executive Paul Wait.
Tanzer said he felt the numbers were slightly exaggerated as the 2014 figure didn’t include managed agencies which would increase numbers if they were to be added, and he also added that the numbers alone didn’t tell the whole story.
“The actual number of outlets may be down but the revenues have held up. So the business that was being done by those agents who have retired and closed their businesses, or who have gone out of business, has been picked up by the remaining agents. There is still the same amount of business, it’s just the market is a completely different shape.”
Asked if the reduction in outlets made Abta more relevant, Tanzer agreed, and pointed to the range of activity which the association was currently involved with as proof of its input.
He said that as he was speaking, the association was dealing with the repatriation of clients in Kenya following a change to Foreign Office advice, plus the fallout from the failure of Abta member Villa Parade which affected some 1,300 customers.
He said Abta also provided members with touch points to the customer across a number of different areas, including financial protection, arbitration, crisis management and health and safety, and pointed to the association’s lobbying role in Westminster and Brussels.