Tourism is missing from the mission statement of the department responsible for it but the recent government reorganisation could be seen as an opportunity. Ian Taylor reports
Industry leaders welcomed prime minister Rishi Sunak’s cabinet changes and creation of new government departments last week as “a new opportunity” to engage.
But the reorganisation risks leaving travel well down the government’s list of priorities.
Sunak broke up the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to create a new Department for Energy Security and Net Zero led by Grant Shapps, who moved from BEIS, and a Department for Science, Innovation and Technology led by Michele Donelan, who switched from culture secretary.
The business and trade departments were merged to create a new Department for Business and Trade led by Kemi Badenoch, while Lucy Frazer – a former prisons minister and latterly housing minister – took over at the culture department (DCMS).
Tourism minister Stuart Andrew, appointed in November, remains in post at the DCMS but is also responsible for sport and civil society and, at the business/trade department, for equalities.
At the same time, a new DCMS ‘mission statement’ and five ‘policy priorities’ make no mention of tourism, stating the department “will focus on culture, arts, media, sport and civil society . . . recognising the importance of these sectors . . . to our economy”.
Abta director of public affairs Luke Petherbridge described the statement as “disappointing when tourism is the biggest contributor to GDP within the department” but said: “I wouldn’t get bogged down with that. We don’t just want to grumble at the government.
“The government is looking for solutions from business. It has 18 months before it has to call an election and it needs to demonstrate it has done something. We need a targeted approach to lobbying. We don’t want to talk about 101 things.”
Petherbridge highlighted Atol reform, a review of the Package Travel Regulations (PTRs), EU-UK labour mobility and investment in sustainability as the priorities and said: “There are new opportunities for the industry to engage.
“For example, business and trade secretary Kemi Badenoch has talked about the need for growth and travel has a strong story to tell about growth.”
He suggested the alignment of business and trade provides “an opportunity to get our arguments heard on the movement of labour” and added: “The Department of Energy’s focus [on net zero] is a strategic priority for the industry.”
Abta continues to lead industry calls for a single minister to have cross-government responsibility for travel, with Petherbridge arguing: “It’s not practical to have all the responsibilities in one department, but we could have one minister pulling it all together.”
Yet that prospect appears no closer following the changes.
The break-up of BEIS – the fourth major reorganisation of the department responsible for business regulation, in 15 years – will inevitability have repercussions on workloads and priorities. The independent Institute for Government warned of “considerable disruption, distraction and delay”.
The Retained EU Law Bill, a remnant of the brief but chaotic Liz Truss government, adds to the pressure on Whitehall departments by requiring all EU-derived law be reviewed and specifically retained, reformed or automatically expire by the end of the year – meaning a review of 3,700-plus pieces of law.
Petherbridge described the requirement to look at every piece of EU-derived legislation as “not helpful from a business perspective”. But he said: “The driver [of the Bill] is to show the benefits of Brexit, so we expect reform of the Package Travel Regulations [PTRs].”
Ahead of the government’s restructuring, Abta had expected the Department for Business (BEIS) to launch a consultation on PTR reform by Easter.
Petherbridge said: “The timetable might slip by a few weeks because of the changes, but we don’t see the consultation not going ahead. We’ve not heard that it won’t. The likelihood is they will still want to look at it.”
Yet if reform of the PTRs does proceed, it’s not likely to bring any change to the regulations affecting international travel. The most likely change would be the removal of domestic packages from the regulations which would be of scant interest to the outbound sector.
We also know any PTR reform won’t be aligned with Atol reform. The CAA has made that clear.
In the mid-term, the election required by the end of next year does present opportunities.
But it remains hard to see what reward the industry might see for its lobbying in the short term, with the government weak and preoccupied with the polls and opponents in its own party, and with key departments undergoing restructuring.
It’s not wrong to maintain the sector’s lobbying efforts, but it would be wise to temper expectations of the results.