ABTA – The Travel Association has responded to the Government’s Growth Plan.

Luke Petherbridge, Director of Public Affairs at ABTA – The Travel Association said:

“Today’s announcement is the first indication we’ve had from the new Government about their plans for the economy and public finances.

“This is a Government focused on growth, which outbound travel businesses have a strong track record in delivering when supported by the right tax and policy framework.

 “The plan does include some savings for business, such as the reversal of the 1.25% rise in National Insurance contributions, which was due in April 2023, and cancellation of the planned rise in corporation tax, and comes on the back of help outlined in the Energy Bill Relief Scheme which was announced on Wednesday.

 “However, the Government could have gone much further with plans to support businesses beyond the current financial year, which would have benefited our Members. We strongly urge the Government to take the opportunity to use the full Budget statement to extend business rates relief support beyond April 2023, and to look at how Government could work with the banks to ease the pressure of COVID loan repayments. 

 “We’ll also be working to make the case to Government that the support with energy bills needs to be available to travel businesses beyond the initial six-month period, especially given travel restrictions were only removed in March 2022, and the industry is behind other sectors in terms of its recovery.”

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.