‘Only 12pc of agents will still be in business by July 2021’

The majority of travel agents – some 61% – will run out of cash by the end of this year, according to a new poll on social media.

A further 27% of those agents responded to the brief poll on the Facebook Group Travel Gossip said they will run out of cash in the first half of next year.

The poll, launched after the government announced a month-long travel ban as part of England’s second national lockdown starting on Thursday, asked agents how long they thought they’d be able to continue trading.

Advantage Travel Partnership said the results showed that there will only be 12% of travel agents still in business by July 2021.

The poll received 401 responses within a 24-hour timeframe from November 2.

Agents were asked:

The World Travel & Tourism Council estimates if barriers to global travel remain in place, a total of 2.4 million travel and tourism jobs across the UK could be impacted, with a loss of £124 billion in GDP.

Advantage CEO Julia Lo Bue-Said said: "When will the government wake up and see that an industry is collapsing in front of them? These results are deeply concerning, but sadly are indicative of many businesses throughout the travel industry.

"We need an exit strategy from our government to outline how we are going to move forwards.

"Hospitality and retail had to ensure they were COVID secure when they reopened in the summer, and travel needs its own equivalent – we must have a robust testing system in place and quarantine periods reduced to give us any chance of surviving this crisis.

"The Global Travel Taskforce is scheduled to present its findings to the Prime Minister in early November, and we are calling on them to progress their discussions as a matter of urgency.

"This absolutely cannot be delayed otherwise this will have a catastrophic impact on travel agents and the travel industry."

Travel Gossip founder Bruce Martin said: "It is heart-breaking to hear about so many of our travel agent community on the precipice of closure and financial ruin and these results demonstrate the dire repercussions that this pandemic has had on agents.

"The second national lockdown and blanket travel ban will only make matters worse as they will have to provide support to travellers who had trips booked and deal with a second round of refunds, putting additional pressure on travel agents who have had little to no revenue since March through no fault of their own."

By Linsey McNeill, Editor (UK)