Wuhan Coronavirus: Tourism

Lord Lee of Trafford Excerpts

Wednesday 26th February 2020 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Lee of Trafford]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact Wuhan coronavirus is having on United Kingdom tourism.

[Lord Lee of Trafford (LD)]

I beg leave to ask the Question in my name on the Order Paper and declare an interest as chairman of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (Baroness Barran) (Con)]

My Lords, the Government are working very closely with the tourism industry to monitor the impact of Covid-19 on the sector. VisitBritain has chaired two meetings of the Tourism Industry Emergency Response Group and has been providing daily updates to industry members since 27 January. The Minister for Tourism chaired the industry council just this Monday, where the Deputy Chief Medical Officer was present to discuss these issues with the industry, and the Government continue to monitor the situation closely.

[Lord Lee of Trafford]

My Lords, while the health issues are obviously paramount, global travel is increasingly being disrupted and restricted. UK tourism is already being seriously affected. Flights between China and Europe are down 37%. The chief executive of Walpole, the luxury trade body, believes that there has been a 70% downturn in Chinese visitor spend and many visitor attractions, hotels and restaurants are being hit. Particularly badly hit are the 20-plus members of UKinbound, whose businesses are totally dependent on the Chinese market. I urge the Government to encourage banks to be lenient and understanding with affected businesses and, more importantly, to consider deferring VAT payments to ease liquidity pressures on companies, particularly if the various problems persist for any length of time.

[Baroness Barran]

The noble Lord is right to point out the challenges to certain sectors of the tourism industry. As for working more closely with the banks on the impact of Covid-19, the virus is obviously impacting businesses across many industries, of which tourism is an important one, and the Government are working very closely with the financial services sector to ensure that the economy can negotiate this period. The Government do not have any plans to introduce a blanket deferral of VAT payments as a result of Covid-19 but, if our businesses are struggling as a result of the virus, HMRC’s “time to pay” arrangements allow customers with viable businesses more flexibility over their payment periods.