Collapse of tourist visits to UK to cost £30billion
THE collapse in visitors to the UK will cost the economy £30billion and lead to 10,000 job losses, tourism chiefs warned last night.
Firms that rely on foreign tourists say bookings have been ‘totally wiped out’ until 2022 because of the disastrous 14-day quarantine policy.
UK-Inbound, a trade body of 400 businesses, fear half of Britain’s tour operators will collapse within the next six months – unless airport tests are introduced.
Many are family-run firms that raise billions for regional economies.
Because autumn is usually peak time for bookings over the next year, companies are not expecting to welcome any tourists for the entirety of 2021.
The UK usually welcomes around 40million tourists a year, including big spenders from the US and Asia.
But the quarantine rules have led to a collapse in visitor numbers and an 88 per cent drop in spending.
Tour operators now expect to make 10,000 redundancies when the furlough scheme ends next month, and thousands more to follow over the next year.
Joss Croft, the boss of UK-Inbound, told the Mail: ‘It is a fight for survival. We are very, very worried about what happens when the furlough scheme ends.
‘A lot of businesses have seen zero business this year and expect minimal bookings for 2021.
‘Despite what Rishi Sunak has promised, tour operators have been completely abandoned. It is astonishing because these are companies that generate £30billion for the economy.
‘They have been forgotten while we lag behind other countries on airport testing.’
Lana Bennett of Tours International said: ‘We are a small firm that normally brings 6,000 tourists to the UK every year – mostly from France, and some from the US. Quarantine has paralysed our business. So long as the 14-day policy is in place, no one will come to Britain.
‘No tourist is ever going to pay for a tour and quarantine for 14 days just so they can do a tour.
‘Over our 33 years in business we have faced an awful lot of challenges – 9/11, the Icelandic ash cloud, terrorism – but this is incomparable to anything we have faced before. It is threatening our survival.’
Tour operators are calling for airport testing to boost confidence in travel to the UK, and an emergency furlough scheme to help tour operators through winter.
Earlier this week, Marc Crothall, chief executive of the Scottish Tourism Alliance, said the organisation had been working closely with airport representatives, tour operators and UK-inbound to ‘elevate the importance of the introduction of a testing regime at all UK airports to revive the international market which Scotland so desperately needs’.
He added: ‘There continues to be significant redundancies across the industry and these are only set to increase. It is vital the traveller and the public are given reassurance that we can offer a safe and warm welcome to all who wish to visit Scotland.
‘Quickly establishing a robust testing regime is a positive way forward.’
‘Threatening our survival’