While being part of Europe is far from perfect, it’s better than being outside it, says Tom Jenkins, CEO of the European Tour Operators Association.
"There are big problems concerning the way in which tourism is regulated in Brussels. Any disinterested observer can see that the Package Travel Directive has a malevolent influence on competition and consumer choice. All who delve into the Tour Operators Margin Scheme see it as a punitive tax on the export of services. But the right way – the only way – of tackling these problems is by reform, and reform can only take place within the legislative structures of Brussels.
The overwhelming bulk of ETOAs members sell Europe as a destination, and do so to the world market. The majority still do so using bases in the UK. For these companies, it is vital to have a seamless commercial link with businesses in Europe. Their continued success is contingent on the freedom to trade, and to source expertise with zero immigration difficulties.
Europe is also a vast potential market, not just for incoming visitors, but for ‘business to business’ travel intermediaries. Obstacles exist – most notably the aforementioned Package Travel Directive – but these are being addressed by Single Market initiatives driven by Brussels. A genuinely free market in travel services would open up a $780 billion industry to competition: a golden opportunity for middlemen who add value. Without the UK’s influence, this market is less likely to happen. If it happens without the UK, then the UK will struggle to derive any benefit. Heads or tails, Brexit loses: nothing will compensate for losing all influence over how our most important market is run. Having slammed a door, all we could do is stand on the outside and hope that we will be readmitted.
There is an excruciating lack of humility displayed by those members of the political class who advocate ‘repatriation of powers’. Viewed from Europe, Britain’s record of political and economic governance seems, at best, inept. All the big problems of the last 15 years were hatched, nurtured and delivered domestically without much obvious assistance from the EU. Brussels may engage in meddlesome regulation, but nothing they do compares with such debacles as the Afghan, Iraq or Libyan wars, the Private Finance Initiative or the NHS Computerisation project. We ought to be addressing how we arrived at such decisions as HS2, Hinckley point or the lack of progress on Heathrow. Instead we are worrying about straight bananas."
