Businesses will be aware their lives are unlikely to become easier as they start to prepare for next year’s peaks, says Lucy Huxley
Any new government that needs to get bad news out of the way will try to use the legacy of its predecessors to apportion blame, and the Labour Party has certainly used that tactic fully at the start of its tenure.
But while most new administrations would expect some form of honeymoon period after taking power, there is a feeling that those bleak early pronouncements may have served to deflate any lingering sense of positivity.
Of course, the prime minister’s misstep in his handling of gifts from supporters doesn’t help the approval ratings. But as Jet2holidays chief Steve Heapy told our Future of Travell Conference last week, there is a risk that creating a sense of “doom and gloom” could become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
It was notable that both Keir Starmer and chancellor Rachel Reeves attempted to strike a more upbeat tone at the Labour Party conference recently, and as Abta’s Luke Petherbridge notes in this week’s edition, the industry has found reasons for positivity in its early pronouncements.
But having been warned of a “painful” Budget at the end of this month, businesses will be aware that their lives are unlikely to become easier as they start to prepare for next year’s peaks.
Despite the economic uncertainty and discussion of headwinds facing the industry, the overall mood at the Future of Travel Conference was positive, with hopes that the strong trading of the past two years will continue into 2025.
It will be interesting to see if that positivity is echoed by those at Abta’s Travel Convention in Greece this week.
This column originally appeared in the October 2 edition of Travel Weekly