Wheel substance

Coach industry needs help

THERE HAS correctly been much anxiety about the impact of coronavirus on Yorkshire and the UK’s tourism industry with visitors effectively barred from normally-bustling destinations that rely on visitors – but one area of concern that has been somewhat overlooked so far is the coach travel companies who get them there.

The recent collapse of Specialist Leisure Group, the company which ran Shearings Holidays and National Holidays, was an alarm call about the future of the sector and now 550 coach travel operators have written to Chancellor Rishi Sunak urging him to provide more help to them to stay on the road after what will effectively be an 18-month off-season.

Among the signatories is Yorkshire family firm Bibby’s of Ingleton, which employs 65 people and which normally runs hundreds of coach holidays, day excursions and educational school trips to Europe every year.

The company has been run by the Bibby family for generations and is among the largest local employers. Coach companies have a vital role in the tourism economy eco-system – without Shearings for example, many hotels, restaurants and attractions that relied on them bringing huge numbers of tourists to their doors each year will be struggling to make up that lost income.

A vast amount of public money has already been committed by the Government to try and keep companies afloat and minimise job losses – but the consideration of coach travel companies like Bibby’s must be at forefront of Ministers’ minds as they look to rebuild the UK’s tourism industry.