30 Nov
2022

Small Business Saturday - a chance to celebrate travel’s contribution to local communities and economies

Travel companies encouraged to engage with local politicians

Small Business Saturday is a great opportunity for small travel companies to demonstrate to local politicians the contribution their businesses make to the community, says ABTA. 

The Association is encouraging travel businesses to get in touch with their MPs, councillors and representatives of the devolved administrations this week, and highlight the contribution their businesses make through employing local staff and generating income for the local economy.

To help Members and the wider industry demonstrate their value, ABTA has provided a template letter, which can be edited and personalised, and social media posts to promote the sector. Businesses are encouraged to include data on the contribution to their constituency’s local economy, which can be found in ABTA’s value of travel data dashboard. The template materials can be found at www.abta.com/SmallBusinessSaturday.

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

“Politicians are often heavily engaged in Small Business Saturday – spending time on the high street and getting involved in local initiatives that celebrate the business community. So, it is a perfect opportunity for businesses to reach out and introduce themselves to their MPs, representatives from the devolved administrations, or local councillors, and to talk about the important role of your business to the local economy. 

“Invite them to your store, share our data on travel’s contribution to their constituency, tag them into social media posts – all these things help raise awareness of local travel businesses and the important role they have in helping high streets and communities thrive.

“Demonstrating the value of our industry is an ongoing job, we’re doing that by speaking with MPs, Ministers and Government officials, but it’s also essential that travel businesses establish direct relationships with politicians and make the case at a local level of why our industry matters.”

Small Business Saturday is an annual event and is due to take place this weekend on Saturday 3rd December. As well as supporting Members to demonstrate their value, ABTA will also be encouraging consumers to visit their local ABTA Members this weekend. 


Notes to editors
ABTA is a trade association for UK travel agents, tour operators and the wider travel industry. We’re the largest travel trade body, with over 3,900 travel brands in Membership who have a combined pre-pandemic annual UK turnover of £40 billion. We work closely with our Members to help raise and maintain standards and build a more sustainable travel industry, and provide travellers with advice, guidance and support.

Our Members sign up to a code of conduct and commit to agreed service standards and fair trading. When you need clear travel information, and accurate and impartial advice relating to your trip, we’re here for you. We’ll help you understand your level of financial protection, and what to do next, in the unlikely event that an ABTA Member goes out of business. So, whatever happens, when you book with an ABTA Member, reliable advice comes as standard. This means that booking with our Members brings peace of mind. Together with our Members, we help you travel with confidence. www.abta.com