27 Jun
2019

ABTA AGM and Travel Matters 2019

Yesterday’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) marked the end of Noel Josephides’s term as ABTA Chairman, having reached the end of the maximum six-year term. We are extremely grateful for all that Noel has brought to ABTA over many years, and particularly during his Chairmanship. I am very pleased that Noel has agreed to continue to Chair the Membership Committee.

 

Following the AGM the ABTA Board elected Alistair Rowland to the position of Chairman. Alistair, who is the Chief Retail Officer of Mid-Counties Co-operative Ltd, has been on the ABTA Board since 2012. His expertise, professionalism and enthusiasm will be invaluable in our ongoing work to support our Members and their customers. Read more here.

 

Travel Matters

The AGM was held on the same day as ABTA’s Travel Matters policy conference. The themes included the current political and economic landscape, with contributions from ABTA Members and Partners, as well as politicians and commentators. You can watch highlights from the 2019 Travel Matters Conference below.
 


Labour market research

The conference also looked at how we need to work with Government to understand the UK travel and tourism labour market, in order to ensure it develops the right approach to immigration and skills development. To support this argument we released new research yesterday which shows the UK travel and tourism industry directly provides 1.52m jobs in the UK – equivalent to 4.8% of all employment in the UK – and contributes £67.7bn (GVA) to the UK economy.

 

We also discussed how immigration arrangements between the UK and the EU after Brexit will be most likely be reciprocal, so it is important the UK Government offers a framework which supports businesses operating at home and abroad.

 

Read more here.

 

Mark Tanzer, Chief Executive, ABTA