ABTA – The Travel Association has written to Conservative leadership candidates Rt Hon Liz Truss MP and Rishi Sunak MP to outline what is needed to support the UK travel industry through its recovery from the COVID pandemic, and to ensure a prosperous future for the sector.

The letter, sent from Chief Executive Mark Tanzer at the end of last week, explained the value of the UK international travel industry to the UK economy, as well as its role in supporting hundreds of thousands jobs and as a driver of growth.

It also says that to grasp the opportunities that lie ahead for the travel industry, and wider economy, it is essential that a constructive and ongoing dialogue is maintained between industry leaders, Ministers and officials. In particular, ABTA reiterated its call for clear ministerial responsibility to bring together the various strands of policy that affect international travel, and which fall across a number of Government departments.

Other issues raised as part of the letter included the industry’s commitment to net-zero in line with DfT’s Jet Zero Strategy, with investment in Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs) and delivery of airspace modernisation as priorities. The importance of finding workable solutions to UK-EU labour mobility challenges was also emphasised, along with other matters relating to the UK’s departure from the EU. 

Mark Tanzer, Chief Executive of ABTA – The Travel Association said:

“The current travel landscape shows just how important it is that ABTA continues to impress on all politicians the value of the UK’s international travel industry to the UK economy. The political changes present an opportunity to reiterate what we need from this Government to ensure a prosperous and sustainable industry, and how we need to work together to achieve this. Our engagement with the candidates for Prime Minster builds on our ongoing work with Government, including recent meetings with Minsters and our work with officials and MPs from across all parties.”