The Save Future Travel Coalition has launched a fresh petition to Parliament calling making five demands to support and protect the travel industry.
Trade bodies involved in the group are appealing to travel industry professionals to sign the petition, which calls for a fully-regionalised quarantine policy, the introduction of Covid-19 testing at airports, and a review of the chancellor’s Job Support Scheme
It’s other requests include recovery grants for SMEs and travel businesses that missed out on previous support and Air Passenger Duty relief for summer 2021 to boost demand.
The petition needs 10,000 signatures for the government to respond and 100,000 signatures to be discussed in Parliament. It had attracted more than 1,500 signatures by this morning (Tuesday). It is available to sign here.
It says: “The Winter Economy Plan will not save travel. The UK has a world-leading travel industry, which in ordinary times supports over 100 million trips annually (inbound and outbound). Businesses in the sector make an economic contribution of more than £60bn every year and employ close to 1 million people across the UK. However, the travel industry has been among the hardest hit by COVID-19, with measures to control the pandemic denting confidence in travel and delaying the recovery of the sector.”
It follows the appeal by the Save Future Travel Coalition, which includes Abta, the Advantage Travel Partnership, Aito, Atas, The Business Travel Association, Clia, SBIT, the SPAA, and The Travel Network Group, for members of trade associations to write to their MPs.
Luke Petherbridge, Abta’s Director of Public Affairs said: “The Save Future Travel petition builds on the work Abta and the other coalition partners have been doing over the recent weeks to put the industry’s case to government ministers and officials about the desperate need for tailored support for the travel industry. It also supports the ongoing efforts of industry representatives who are using our template emails to reach out to their local MPs, and will further raise awareness of our plight.
“We have seen government respond to the need for ongoing salary support and business support measures, but the plans unveiled in the chancellors’ Winter Economy Plan do not go far enough.
“The Job Support Scheme misses the mark for most travel businesses, and we strongly encourage the government to review the scheme. We also need to see urgent progress on testing, and a fully regionalised approach to quarantine rules, as already happens in Germany and elsewhere, in order to restore the confidence in travel that will be critical to recovery.”
Scottish Passenger Agents’ Association (SPAA) president Joanne Dooey added: “I cannot stress highly enough the seriousness of the current plight of the travel industry, and I urge the government to act decisively and positively before it is too late.”
To sign the petition click here.