Government must give travel industry clarity say Liberal Democrats - it would welcome our revenue replacement proposals

Liberal Democrats Spokesperson for the Treasury Christine Jardine MP attended an online meeting with key figures from the travel industry this morning to discuss the issues facing the sector.

At the event, hosted by the travel industry publication Travel Trade Gazette, attendees spoke of their frustration at lack of sector specific support and clarity from the Government over quarantine, the mounting debts many travel companies and tour operators are facing, and welcomed the idea of the revenue replacement scheme which the Liberal Democrats called for in the Budget.

Afterwards, Christine said: "Listening to the issues faced by the travel industry it is clear that the Government need to provide a much more tailored approach for the sector, and that the sort of revenue replacement scheme that the Liberal Democrats called for in the Budget would make a real difference for many in the sector.

"They need clarity and consistency from ministers over travel restrictions, quarantine, international vaccine passports and so much more, to give both the industry and consumers the confidence they need to be able to open up again.

"But there are also longer term issues over the debt burden, not just through bounce back loans but the cost of transaction payments on cancelled credit card bookings."

During the Budget debate the Liberal Democrats had said :

*The Liberal Democrats are calling on the Government to introduce a revenue replacement scheme for small businesses, to compensate them for the money they are losing while they have been forced to close.

*In 2019 the outbound travel industry alone contributed £37.1 billion to the UK economy.

*In November, the Association of British Travel Agents, ABTA, estimated the number of people in travel who have been made redundant or placed at risk of redundancy as a result of the coronavirus crisis, had increased from around 90,000 in August to 164,000.