UK Outbound Travel Group sets out four asks to help 1,300+ independent travel agents and tour operators invest, employ and grow
22 October London – ahead of the Budget next week, The UK Outbound Travel Group (UKOBTG) has urged the Chancellor to support the independent travel businesses at the heart of high streets and local economies across the country.
The UK Outbound Travel Group (UKOTG) brings together a group of companies from across the sector including Specialist Holidays Group, Themis Advisory, PT Trustees Limited, Attraction Tickets.com, Travel Specialist Consultancy Limited, Advantage Travel Partnership, The Specialist Travel Association (AITO) and The Association of Bonded Travel Organisers’ Trust (ABTOT). Together they represent more than 700 independent travel agents and over 600 independent and specialist tour operators. Almost all are SMEs, and many are family-owned businesses now in their second or third generation.
Travel-related spending contributes around £57 billion in GVA to the UK economy each year* and supports 865,000 jobs*. Rising operating costs, overlapping regulation, fragile consumer confidence and geopolitical uncertainty are squeezing the sector’s ability to invest and grow.
In advance of the Budget, UKOTG has made representations to HM Treasury setting out what the sector needs in order to grow.
What UKOTG is asking for:
1. Fairer business rates for travel businesses
UKOTG welcomed the Government’s independent review of rates valuations for pubs and hotels and said travel agencies and tour operators, that face the same pressures, should be treated similarly. UKOTG also called for the Government to go beyond its planned changes to Small Business Rate Relief, either by raising the small business threshold or by taking the smallest businesses out of the rates system altogether.
2. Practical support for SMEs
Unlike the aviation sector, outbound travel businesses are largely small, often family-run firms that feel the impact of regulatory change and downturns far quicker than large businesses. UKOTG is asking for meaningful support for businesses that take on apprentices, graduates and part-time workers to help the sector play its part in getting your people who are not in education, employment or training into work.
UKOTG is also calling on the Government to simplify and clarify how the Package Travel Regulations interact with insurance to prevent small firms being forced to cover the cost of disruption outside of their control.
3. A freeze of Air Passenger Duty
With household budgets still under pressure, UKOTG is urging the Government to freeze APD rates for the rest of this Parliament.
4. Safer high streets
UKOTG members report growing concern about antisocial behaviour, drug use and street drinking that leave staff and customers feeling unsafe. The group wants public safety placed at the centre of the high-street agenda. It is also calling for more visible policing and better coordination between police, councils and enforcement agencies.
Julia Lo Bue-Said OBE, CEO of Advantage Travel Partnership, said: “Independent travel agents are often among the last service businesses on the high street, employing local people and keeping town centres alive. The Chancellor has promised growth in every postcode, and our members are exactly the businesses that promise describes. Fairer business rates and safer high streets would help them keep their doors open and invest in their communities.”
Martyn Sumners, Executive Director of AITO, The Specialist Travel Association, said: “Specialist tour operators are small businesses carrying big risks. When insurers use the Package Travel Regulations to push valid claims back onto operators, it is SMEs that end up paying for weather, unrest and events entirely beyond their control. Clarity on Regulation 15 would remove an unfair burden at no cost to the Treasury.”
Richard Watson, Managing Director of ABTOT, said: “British families are still feeling the squeeze, and Air Passenger Duty remains a significant cost on every family holiday. A freeze for the rest of this Parliament, alongside fairer treatment of Premium Economy and children, would support demand and help travel businesses across the UK plan for growth.”
