STARMER RLB AXE IS A RISK In tent on recovery

Camper boom fuels hope for tourism trade

STAYCATION. Horrible word. For some reason it always makes me think of David Cameron but I think I might be getting it mixed-up with “chillaxing” or “ineptitude”.

In fact it came about long before our pork-loving former PM was around. The first usage was in the Cincinnati Inquirer in July 1944: “Take a Staycation instead of a Va-cation.”

Clever that. I thought it might have something to do with the war, encouraging US citizens to spend their money at home. But no. It was part of a commercial for Felsenbrau Supreme Beer. So there you go, eh? Booze and etymology in one paragraph. I feel like an alcoholic Suzy Dent.

Boom

Anyways, Staycation. However horrible the word, it’s on a lot of people’s minds at the moment. More than a third of us are going to stay in the UK for our holidays this year.

Everyone I speak to is trying to book a holiday cottage, caravan, or campsite. Or trying to borrow a tent.

One site for UK stays reported a booking every 11 seconds. Another reported a 450 per cent rise in bookings. Camper vans and caravans are flying out of the door which means, wherever we’re all going, we’ll be getting there really slowly.

This is going to be a bit of a boom time, then, for the domestic holiday and hospitality industry – good news because they have been battered by the virus.

But, like most industries, big firms are preparing to

UNIFICATION was the name of the game during Keir Starmer’s leadership campaign.

But it’s clear now, after the sacking of Rebecca Longbailey, what he meant by that.

It’s not so much bringing together the left and right of the Labour party, it’s getting rid of the left to produce one lay off a lot of people in the name of coronavirus. What’s the saying? Never waste a good recession.

Some firms have seen workers moved from full-time secure work to zerohours contracts, with pay cuts and benefits stripped.

But there is plenty more to come. The Unite union says one million jobs could vanish. They are working with Ukhospitality on a plan to present to government which will probably involve calling on ministers to extend the job retention scheme. That would smaller, more manageable, obedient operation.

As a strategy it’s risky. The sacking of RLB wasn’t done particularly smoothly – whatever your views are on her tweeting something dubious. And it opened up splits in the party, including at the top, where RLB’S friend slow down job losses and let the industry recover. And it’s important that the Culture Secretary and the PM listen.

This industry is a special case. It is very brittle at the best of times and needs a bit of leeway to recover properly and avoid a bloodbath.

It’s a sad fact, though, that firms will use the backdrop of the pandemic to cull jobs or force workers into worse conditions. These are quite often companies that post healthy profits and have very little to worry about.

Recovery will come – we just have to be slightly patient. The big hospitality and flatmate, deputy leader Angela Rayner is reported to be upset about the way the whole thing was handled.

The right think it’s great, the left think it’s a stitch-up.

The usual commentators are lazily praising “strong leadership”. Strong maybe. Smart, not at all. companies deal in billions and will return to those profit margins once travel recovers and things settle down.

Managed carefully – and with the right support from the Government – the whole industry could get through unscathed.

Look at hotel bookings. In the space of a week – and without any foreign visitors – they’re 140 per cent up in London, 300 per cent in Manchester, 200 per cent in Blackpool.

Even Bristol is up 200 per cent. Bristol, eh? Hope the tourists aren’t all going there just to see the statues.