Half of Advantage agents undecided over Brexit
Over half of Advantage agents are still undecided about whether to stay or leave the European Union.
But while 53% have yet to make a decision, 37% say they will be voting in June’s referendum to stay in the EU and only 10% say they will vote to exit.
The results of the ‘quick survey’ of members were unveiled at the Advantage Conference on MSC Fantasia at the weekend.
Advantage business development director Colin O’Neill said most of the undecided members said they genuinely didn’t know which way to vote because the real issues were being masked by party politics.
Stephen d’Alfonso, ABTA head of public affairs, said agents were right to be cynical about the motives behind the two campaigns.
"There’s been a lot of political maneuvering and that’s not healthy for the nation as a whole. On both fronts we have disunity in the political parties and I don’t think that will settle down," he said.
"On the ‘leave’ side, we need to remember that this isn’t a unified campaign that has a view or vision for what is going to happen tomorrow or in six months if we leave the EU, so instead there is a lot of scaremongering. I think agents’ cynicism is well founded."
O’Neill said those members who supported the leave campaign shared a lot of concerns about EU law makers.
"They weren’t quite going back to Churchillian days, but there’s a lot of anxiety and frustration with Brussels," he said.
Meanwhile, the 37% who had already decided to vote to stay in the EU believed it’s nonsense for the UK to consider itself an island state as it’s now so closely linked to Europe.
Alfonso agreed it was naive to think that if Britain was to leave the EU, it would be able to start from scratch with its travel laws and regulations.
"You won’t have a situation where you can suddenly turn around to customers and tell them they will no longer get compensation for flight delays or financial protection for their holiday," he said.
He said the industry should also be aware that the UK currently exerts significant influence over decisions in Brussels.
"I’ve seen first hand how UK civil servants are leading the way and are one of the most competent forces in Brussels," he said.
He said the process of leaving the EU would bring a long period of uncertainty for the industry, with some experts believing it could be 10 years before an exit agreement comes into place.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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