EMB 00:01 MON: MPs urged to back inbound tourism resilience fund

UKinbound has submitted a proposal to the Treasury which would see tour operators and DMCs able to apply for a capped grant award fund based on the level of turnover lost in 2020 and forecast operating costs.

Without this support, it warns pent-up demand and future business will be lost and 10s of thousands of jobs will go.

The call comes as figures show the Covid-19 crisis has brought export industry inbound tourism to a near standstill.

Figures from VisitBritain show a 76% fall in international visitors throughout 2020, with key markets such as the US and China closed almost entirely.

As a result of this, the UK economy is projected to be losing £457m a week this year through the loss of visitor spending in the UK.

Only 17% of operators and DMCs are confident about the next twelve months and 60% fear their business will be unable to survive the crisis.

Previously profitable and sustainable, tour operators and DMCs have been hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic as they are reliant on international visitors for business, can’t pivot to domestic business and were excluded from crucial support channels as the government does not recognise that the operating conditions of these leisure industry businesses differ from those with an obvious shop window.

The association is also calling for the government to work with industry to introduce a best in class testing system and a regionalised approach to quarantine in order to open up key markets like the USA, where there is strong evidence of pent up demand for travel to the UK.

UKinbound CEO Joss Croft said: "The UK economy is losing £457m each week as a result in the fall in international visitor numbers, which highlights how a failure to support this industry will hold back our national economic recovery.

"Since March, we have seen the number of international visitors fall off a cliff, with the government’s delays on testing and a blunt quarantine policy halting a summer recovery and costing businesses millions in lost revenue.

"It is essential that the government provides targeted support to UK’s 200 plus inbound tour operators and DMCs who have been left in the cold by existing government support schemes leaving many facing an uncertain future.

"These businesses will be vital to bringing back international visitors to the UK and to ensuring that tourism in the UK can make its vital contribution to our economic recovery from the pandemic. 

"Without this support, we risk pushing international visitors to other European destinations and causing irrevocable damage to the communities and regions who rely on tourism and leaving the government’s Global Britain ambitions in tatters."

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