MPs and senior travel chief lined up to welcome Abta’s latest political manifesto yesterday saying it was important the travel sector
Welcoming guests at the launch of the document in the House of Commons Iain Stewart, the Conservative MP for Milton Keynes South, said:
“Abta has been an incredibly influential and informative voice in the transport and travel industry, whether it’s been on APD, holiday insurance or air capacity.
“What Abta says is incredibly important in the policy debate. All politicians are in the gear-up period for the next election so it’s absolutely right that Abta is putting its views forward.”
Mark Tanzer told the reception that the next Parliament, whoever wins and whichever politicians are in the positions of power, is going to be momentous.
He said it will have to deal with a different relationship within the UK between Scotland and the rest of the UK regardless of the outcome of this year’s independence referendum.
And he said the UK would also have to tackle the nature of its ongoing relationship with the European Union. Tanzer added that the next government would have to build on a fragile consumer-led recovery.
“Travel and tourism should be one of the pillars for that vision both in terms of the skills profile of our industry and its job creation potential,” he said.
Tanzer said the industry had been shown to be very amenable to taking on apprentices, to employing women, being flexible and diverse and encouraging to entrepreneurs.
“And the skills that we require really are the skills of the future. The opportunity that’s out there for us worldwide are huge. There is a big export opportunity for us to use our experience to exploit that international potential.”
Jim Fitzpatrick, the Labour MP for Poplar and Limehouse and a former shadow transport minister, praised Abta for its “powerful” manifesto.
And he credited the Conservative side of the coalition government for at least acknowledging the need for more air capacity in the southeast.
But he warned Abta’s demands “won’t happen unless you engage with local politicians and national politicians and sell the programme because it’s good for UK plc”.
“The manifesto lays out that which you want to see happening. If you are going to persuade us or the government to adopt it that dialogue has to take place.”
Abta director and Iglu.com founder and chief executive Richard Downs said: “It’s crucial there’s a body that speaks for the industry. There’s lots we can achieve in aggregate that no one can achieve as an individual.
“What we have here is a world leading industry and we need to get the sustained attention of the government of the day so that political support is a non-political issue.”
Downs said Abta “was on a journey” and had made headway in persuading government of the overall value of the industry, whether that be outbound domestic or inbound.
He pointed to easyJet as a great example of a successful domestic travel firm associated with the outbound sector that is generating significant tax revenues for the exchequer.
“They [Abta] have achieved a voice, but as always there is more we can do,” said Downs.
Nigel Huddleston, current Google travel industry head and also a prospective parliamentary candidate for the Conservatives at next year’s election, said: “The most important thing is Abta and its members have got used to the fact that all their arguments have to have some grounding in economic impact.
“The emotional pleas work quite well in some ways, but anything with some proof of a beneficial impact is going to work better.”
Huddleston said the data Abta has been compiling has been “pretty convincing” and it was important a more professional and business-like case was put to government.
He added there was already evidence that this approach was working with the changes announced to rates of long-haul APD last year.
“No one wants to be seen to be making stupid decisions. That we are here in Parliament today speaks volumes to the change in attitudes towards the industry.”
Fraser Ellacott, who represents Tui Travel on the Abta board as the travel giant’s customer operations director, said: “This is all about promoting travel whatever government ends up in power.
“The clear issues we have on APD need tackling and we have seen some movement recently on long-haul but we need to have a fair level playing field in Europe.
“We are very much supportive of the manifesto and what it says about the Package Travel Directive is all about ensuring there is a fair competitive environment and that consumers are protected.”