The Advantage Travel Partnership has held its first meeting in Westminster as it drives forward with plans to form an UK Outbound Travel Forum.
The move is the brainchild of the consortium’s chief executive Julia Lo Bue-Said, who met today with former Conservative MP Stephen Norris – who was minister for transport in London in the 1990s – and other travel industry representatives as lobbying efforts intensify.
She said the meeting was to “explore how we improve the understanding of the sector and build longer term government engagement”.
Lo Bue-Said proposed the forum in December and urged travel industry stakeholders to assist in funding a “war chest” to pay for “heavyweight” lobbying of the government.
Last month, Advantage recruited Alexis Coles Barrasso, formerly director of PR and communications at The Travel Network Group and before that group director, PR and communications for The Thomas Cook Group, as a consultant to support the move.
As the world continues to change all around us, today I’ll be joining @StevenJNorris in Westminster and industry representatives from the Outbound Travel sector to explore how we improve the understanding of the sector and build longer term government engagement.
— Julia Lo Bue-Said (@jlo_said) March 7, 2022