A new report from the Advantage Travel Partnership has found that 61 per cent of travel agents will run out of cash by the end of this year.

The travel agent consortium released the findings as the UK enters a second lockdown, which effectively prohibits overseas and domestic travel.

The results show the stark reality of how desperate the situation is for travel agents’ businesses and the bleak outlook for the broader travel industry.

If blanket travel bans, quarantine measures and lack of testing continues, a further 27 per cent will run out of cash in the first half of next year, resulting in 88 per cent of agents running out of cash before June.

This means – in a rather hypothetical situation that there will only be 12 per cent of travel agents still in business next summer.

Julia Lo Bue-Said, chief executive at the Advantage Travel Partnership 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-19 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.”