Outbound lobby group hails progress with MPs

The UK Outbound Travel Group says it is starting to make headway with MPs after helping to facilitate 70 meetings with travel firms.

The lobby group’s MP engagement programme, which invites MPs to meet travel firms in their constituency, has led to 50 meetings since the organisation’s launch in 2022, with a further 20 to be held in the coming months. 

Meetings span the group’s members in the Advantage Travel Partnership; Aito, The Specialist Travel Association; and Abtot, and are supported by briefing packs to prepare firms for discussions.

More than 300 MPs have entered Parliament since Labour came to power and many of the meetings have been with these new MPs to educate them on the sector, said spokesperson and Advantage chief executive Julia Lo Bue-Said.

She acknowledged businesses had different priorities, but stressed now was the time to put the effort in. “It’s important to do it now. We’ve got to build that understanding. There’s little point moaning about government not understanding us – we have to do something,” she said.

Lo Bue-Said was confident the group’s work had already raised the sector’s profile. “A lot of MPs do not think travel agents exist, but the message is getting across. We continue to see a healthy appetite from MPs – many of whom are not familiar with the sector’s significant economic value – to meet with their local travel businesses,” she said. 

“The MP engagement programme is a great way of amplifying the voice of the sector. This, together with the work we do with ministers and policymakers in Westminster, means we have a ‘top down and bottom up’ approach to our political affairs work.”

Wildlife operator Naturetrek, an Abtot and Aito member, recently hosted Damian Hinds, MP for East Hampshire, who said the meeting offered “valuable insight into the challenges facing the travel industry”.

Lo Bue-Said admitted it was “slow progress” getting recognition in government circles, but noted the group continued to grow.

 
It now has eight members after five firms – InteleTravel, Attraction Tickets, TMU Management, Travel Specialist Consultancy and Themis Advisory – joined earlier this year.