Following the announcement by the Scottish Government yesterday evening on funding for travel businesses, please find to follow statement from ABTA’s Director of Public Affairs, Luke Petherbridge.

ABTA Director of Public Affairs, Luke Petherbridge, said:

“We’re pleased to see that the Scottish Government has confirmed further financial support for travel companies. ABTA and individual Members, as well as industry partners, have been lobbying to secure this additional money for a number of weeks and it is welcome that Ministers have now recognised the detrimental impact that Omicron travel restrictions had on businesses in our sector. 

“ABTA will work closely with officials and industry partners to seek a scheme structure that supports as many travel businesses as possible, and we’ll be working hard to provide evidence and share expertise over the coming days. 

“ABTA’s lobbying is also focused on ensuring future travel rules provide the stability required to rebuild confidence and get people travelling again in greater numbers, and we’ll continue to make that case to Governments across all parts of the UK. This news is very welcome, but we’re not out of the woods yet and we’ll continue to work hard to represent ABTA Member interests over the weeks and months ahead.” 

Notes to editors
ABTA has been a trusted travel brand for over 70 years. Our purpose is to help our Members to grow their businesses successfully and sustainably, and to help their customers travel with confidence.
 
The ABTA brand stands for support, protection and expertise. This means consumers have confidence in ABTA and a strong trust in ABTA Members. These qualities are core to us as they ensure that holidaymakers remain confident in the holiday products that they buy from our Members. 

We help our Members and their customers navigate through today's changing travel landscape by raising standards in the industry; offering schemes of financial protection; providing an independent complaints resolution service should something go wrong; giving guidance on issues from sustainability to health and safety and by presenting a united voice to government to ensure the industry and the public get a fair deal.

ABTA has around 4,000 travel brands in Membership, providing a wide range of leisure and business travel services, with a combined pre-pandemic annual UK turnover of £40 billion. For more details about what we do, what being an ABTA Member means and how we help the UK public travel with confidence visit www.abta.com.