Aviation, Travel and Tourism Industries

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Thursday 10th June 2021 Commons Chamber

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind) [V]]

I am going to focus on the issues facing our business travel industry. The crisis facing this sector of our economy cannot be overstated. The Business Travel Association, which is the main representative body of the UK business travel industry, has highlighted that in a normal year its member travel management companies account for 6.4 million journeys and 32 million transactions, which contribute £220 billion to UK GDP. Business travellers do not just include those who strike the deals and develop the interpersonal relationships that drive international trade; they also include humanitarian aid workers, engineers, scientists, education providers and researchers, all of whom have witnessed unprecedented barriers to their work as a result of the pandemic.

The impact on this industry cannot be overstated. Travel management companies have seen a collapse in revenue of up to 90% in the past 14 months. According to BTA estimates, around 60% of the employees in the sector were made redundant and 80% of the remaining employees continue to be furloughed. Travel management companies are vital in the distribution chain for business travel. Airlines simply do not have the infrastructure to handle the volume and requirements of large-scale business travel, so they rely on such companies to handle those issues for them.

Furthermore, in a normal year, business travel accounts for 15% to 20% of the customer base of most airlines, providing an essential lifeline to airlines as a whole and contributing to the availability of low-cost flights for leisure travellers. If the sector continues to suffer such severe strain, the entire travel industry may experience dramatic knock-on effects.

The BTA has urged the introduction of several measures that could grant a substantial degree of security to the industry and its employees. The BTA would like priority business travel destinations to be included alongside holiday destinations among the next round of countries added to the green travel list. If the Government cannot expand the green list in June, the job retention scheme for the aviation and travel industries should be extended to December 2021. The BTA is also requesting grant funding of the same broad scope as for hospitality and leisure to support the industry until overseas travel can once again resume without restrictions.

I hope that the Government will consider these asks and act to support and reassure our aviation, travel and tourism industries that the UK Government are on their side. The resulting fall-out from our failure to support these industries could imperil them and create shock waves of harm throughout the economy for many years to come.

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and a happy birthday to Mr Speaker.