Many agents and operators will go under, warns accountancy group

Tuesday, 21 May, 2020 0

Travel agencies and tour operators are the worst hit of all major industries by the coronavirus crisis, according to a national accountancy group.

UHY Hacker Young says it is likely many travel agents and tour operators will not survive the coronavirus after the lockdown ends.

"The UK’s travel agents and tour operators have been hit hardest by the double whammy of the lockdown and a collapse in discretionary consumer spending," said Peter Kubik, partner at UHY Hacker Young.

"The lockdown is a particularly hard blow to high street travel agencies who have been struggling for years against the shift to the internet and the huge DIY sites like Booking.com and Expedia.

"There will be a rush of people booking holidays once lockdown ends but that may come too late for some in the sector. Many are likely to be effectively insolvent already and only surviving because of the help the government has put in place."

UHY Hacker Young says many business will go under once the temporary support from the Government, such as the CBILS scheme, the ban on evictions and winding up petitions and business rate relief, ends.

It pointed to a 56% drop in turnover for the sector, falling from £2.6 billion in March 2019 to just £1.2 billion in March 2020.

UHY Hacker Young has 90 partners and more than 500 professional staff working from 22 locations around the Uk.

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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