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

“Since the start of the pandemic we have been stressing to the Government the unique challenges the crisis has created for the UK travel industry and the toll it has taken on jobs and businesses. We welcome today’s announcements from the Chancellor regarding ongoing salary support and renewed business support measures, which are an important part of ABTA’s plan to Save Future Travel and support travel businesses through the difficult winter season ahead. We await the full details of today’s announcements in order to truly assess what this will mean for travel businesses going forward.

“The Chancellor spoke today about the desire of people to get back to doing the things that enrich our lives, which clearly includes the ability to travel – whether for holidays, to conduct business, or to see family and friends. 

“ABTA will continue to urge the Government to do all it can to ensure travel businesses are supported through the crisis, and that the maximum number of jobs can be retained in our industry. In addition to the financial support measures outlined, we also need to see progress on the full regionalisation of the Government’s quarantine policy, as well as the introduction of testing to reopen the UK’s links with countries around the world. Getting those measures in place as quickly as possible is vital to boost confidence in travel, and that will be critical to the survival of many travel companies. We also believe that the Chancellor should consider an APD cut ahead of next summer to incentivise people to book their well-deserved holidays in 2021.”

Notes to editors
ABTA has been a trusted travel brand for 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 more than 4,300 travel brands in Membership, providing a wide range of leisure and business travel services, with a combined annual UK turnover of £39 billion. For more details about what we do, what being an ABTA Member means and how we help the British public travel with confidence visit www.abta.com.