NEWS years on SPECIAL REPORT


and 2003, reflecting the loss of US travellers post 9/11. But a more severe impact was


anticipated. The Air Travel Trust (ATT) report for the year to March 2002 noted the months following September 11 were “some of the most demanding in recent years” and had “a significant effect on the level and timing of bookings, with a consequent impact on the viability of some Atol holders”. By March 2003, 23 Atol holders


had folded, double the previous year’s total. However, the ATT pointed out the increase was still one of the lowest failure rates since 1989 and “only brings the rate back to the level of the mid-to-late 1990s”. The next year, to March 2003, saw


just nine failures – a new low despite the build-up to the invasion of Iraq. There was one notable exception.


MyTravel, or Airtours as it was known until 2002, was the UK’s second-biggest travel group. Its fortunes plunged spectacularly in 2002 amid a series of profit warnings but also, crucially, the exposure of serious irregularities in its accounts. The group’s share value collapsed. Its £1.3 billion debt dwarfed its value and it was saved only by the CAA declining to pull its Atol and by wiping out its creditors by swapping its debt for equity. The group downsized and


restructured over several years but never recovered and those running it were grateful to merge with Thomas Cook in 2007. Twelve years on, MyTravel


returned to haunt Thomas Cook when in May 2019 Cook was compelled to report a £1.5 billion half-year loss owing to a £1.1 billion impairment in the value of MyTravel which it had retained on the books. The group subsequently went into liquidation.


Impact worldwide The global picture was not too different to the UK, outside the Americas. The UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) noted: “Tourism enjoyed exceptional years in 2000 and 2001. International arrivals declined 0.5% in 2001, the first year of negative growth since 1982 . . . less than was feared after September 11.” The Americas suffered a 6%


drop in arrivals and the US an 11% fall. But Europe saw less than a 1% decline, although UK arrivals fell 9% reflecting a near cessation of transatlantic travel. The following year, the UNWTO


noted “2002 was certainly not easy” but reported: “International tourist arrivals grew 2.7% . . . although uncertainty continued to play a major role under the threat of new terrorist attacks and the looming Iraq conflict. “These adverse conditions resulted


not so much in a decrease in overall volume, but in the reinforcement of shifts in demand towards trips to familiar destinations closer to home. Consumers adopted a wait-and-see


Tighter security is


the abiding impact of 9/11 on travel, although this can’t be attributed solely to that day


attitude resulting in pressure on prices and late bookings. Many sectors went through a difficult time, in particular airlines and sectors more dependent on long-haul traffic.” Arrivals to the US were down


almost 7% year on year in 2002. But Asia and the Pacific saw 8% growth, Europe 2% and the UK 6%. Asia suffered a downturn


of its own in 2003 due to Sars, but the UNWTO could report: “International tourism experienced a spectacular rebound in 2004.”


Security measures Heightened security is the abiding impact of 9/11 on travel, although this can’t be attributed solely to the attacks on the day. Airport security screening was introduced in 1974 after a spate of aircraft hijackings. There had been 159 in US airspace alone by the end of 1972. The standard check-in query,


‘Could anyone have interfered with your baggage?’, followed a thwarted bomb attack on an El Al flight from London in 1986. That, however, did not stop a bomb bringing down a Pan Am Boeing 747 on route from London to New York over Lockerbie in 1988, killing 270.


The US led the aviation security


response to the 2001 attacks, establishing the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), limiting carry-on bags and banning items such as scissors and knives. An attempt by a ‘shoe bomber’ to bring down a Paris-Miami flight in December 2001 saw random inspections of passengers’ shoes added. In 2006, UK authorities foiled a


plot to blow up US-bound aircraft using liquid explosives in carry-on bags, triggering a ban on liquids, gels and aerosols. The ban was later changed to allow small quantities of liquids in a single plastic bag. An attempt to detonate


‘underwear’ explosives on an Amsterdam-Detroit flight in 2009 led to the first advanced imaging technology or ‘full body scanners’ being introduced in the US in 2010. In 2015 the TSA demanded


enhanced screening and random searches at airports with direct flights to the US in response to a growing threat of concealed improvised explosive devices. In 2017, it went further, initially banning laptops and devices bigger than phones in cabin baggage on flights from the Middle East and then requiring these be screened separately. There appears little prospect of


any of the major security requirements being withdrawn. The pandemic threat appears similarly likely to remain with us, bringing screening requirements of its own. We may just have to live with these and expect refinements rather than removal.


Tribute in Light art installation in New York in remembrance


of the September 11 attacks. PICTURE: Shutterstock/Kamil G Polak


travelweekly.co.uk 9 SEPTEMBER 2021 11


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