There has been a shift in the government’s attitude to the European Union under prime minister Rishi Sunak, raising hopes that some damaging aspects of Brexit on the travel industry may be alleviated.
That is according to Abta director of public affairs Luke Petherbridge, who noted “a desire for closer relations” between Westminster and Brussels since the change of government late last year.
Speaking at Abta’s Travel Matters conference in London last week, Petherbridge said: “There has been a slight change in the mood music with the change of administrations.
“There seems a desire to have closer relations with the EU.”
Sunak replaced Liz Truss as prime minister last October, with Truss having succeeded Boris Johnson as PM in September.
He argued: “The [previous] government wasn’t looking to get closer to the EU. The political will wasn’t there. There was a tension.”
Abta joined the Seasonal Businesses in Travel (SBiT) group in calling for improved labour mobility between the UK and EU last week, backed by a report, ‘Unlocking Travel’s Potential’, which detailed the fall in numbers of UK staff working in the EU since 2017.
Petherbridge insisted: “There is growing [government] interest in this. There is a lot [of areas where] we’re going to have a closer relationship with the EU and travel is an obvious place to start.”
He argued: “One of the government’s pledges is on economic growth and mobility is part of how we improve growth.”
Abta and the SBiT are demanding the UK negotiate to extend existing Youth Mobility Scheme arrangements with Australia, New Zealand and Japan to EU countries.
Petherbridge said: “The Youth Mobility Scheme is something we can do now. The government hasn’t said it’s not interested. Now is the time to move it to a more positive position on this.”
He rejected a suggestion that the government has no interest in or understanding of the outbound travel sector, suggesting: “The government does recognise the value of international travel. Ministers say they do and my sense is they do, although they sometimes do unhelpful things.
“If you speak to the Treasury and a lot of key government departments the message that people spend a lot of money in the UK prior to a holiday does land.”
Giles Hawke, outgoing chief executive of Cosmos Tours and Cruises and Avalon Waterways, agreed: “We seem to have moved from our government treating the EU as an enemy towards being closer.”
He told the conference: “We need a government that wants to work with our European partners so our businesses can work together and our citizens can travel freely.”