business Essential news, comment and analysis From left: Champa Magesh,
Amadeus; Andrew Swaffield, Monarch Group; Graham Pickett, Deloitte; and Colin McKinlay, Tui UK
Industry leaders confident Brexit won’t be too bruising
BREXIT DOMINATED DISCUSSIONOF THE YEAR AHEAD AT A TRAVEL WEEKLY BUSINESS BREAKFAST LAST MONTH. IAN TAYLOR REPORTS
The impact of Britain’s Brexit vote has yet to truly hit, but whatever problems ensue should be surmountable, say industry leaders.
Deloitte lead partner for travel and hospitality Graham Pickett told the Business Breakfast audience: “Not a lot has changed [since the vote] apart from the depreciation of sterling.” But he added: “We’ve seen sterling depreciations in the past [and] it’s going to have an impact. I see some inflationary issues. The uncertainty will [also] gradually dampen things.
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travelweekly.co.uk 5 January 2017
“I look at the household economy and government debt. The biggest issue for the government is tax receipts. Government debt will rise. We’re going to see challenges around that and the household economy.” Pickett said: “I’ve talked to a
lot of chief executives of airlines and big travel groups, and we’ve seen quite an increase in passenger numbers, but the yield is coming down. People are spending less – it’s impacting aviation in a big way.” Amadeus UK managing director
Champa Magesh said: “We haven’t seen any impact [from the Brexit vote]. But it’s not just one market that affects our business. The global travel industry has been growing at 4% and we’ve been outperforming that – we’re seeing 6% to 8% growth, depending on the segment. “The online travel space is
outperforming all industry averages. The UK leisure market has continued to be strong. We see average 8%-10% growth there. Corporate travel is underperforming leisure, but certainly not shrinking. “For us, Brexit is not a massive risk consideration. [But] free movement of highly skilled people across our markets is important.
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