NEWS TRAVEL WEEKLY BUSINESS CONTINUED FROM THE BACK
Wilson insisted: “I don’t want
us to fall behind. We’ve been well ahead [of other sectors] with what we’ve done with Abta. “[But] Premier League
football was well behind us a year ago and they’ve overtaken us. In [match] programmes you get a ‘Run, hide, tell’ message, a ‘suspect package’ message, ‘suspicious behaviour’ messaging, and it’s going to be on match tickets. “I went on a package holiday.
I don’t see the messaging on tickets. I don’t see it in brochures. It’s never mentioned at welcome meetings.” Wilson added: “Some
processes I find unbelievable. Hotels take your case away in the morning. An hour later I saw 200 cases in the street. I was flabbergasted. My bag should have been in a secure room, not on the street for two hours. It’s putting all customers at risk. “This industry could do
more and it’s not always going to cost money. Don’t be left behind and have another incident and then say ‘Well, we could have done this’. Abta, Tui, Thomas Cook have done some really good work, but we need to think what else we can do. This problem is here for a generation. It’s not going away.” Hill Dickinson partner Jo
Kolatsis pointed out: “It’s difficult to ensure security arrangements are as robust as we expect in the UK. You’re stuck with local resources unless you’re going to parachute people in. “It’s a big ask of the industry
on its own to set that standard.” Wilson urged industry
representatives to submit suggestions for improvements to the government via Abta director of destinations Nikki White. He said: “We feed back to ministers on what the travel
industry wants.” › Security advice, page 103
Key figures for industry remain in cabinet reshuffle
Ian Taylor
ian.taylor@travelweekly.co.uk
A government reshuffle saw limited changes at departments responsible for policies affecting travel and tourism.
Key figures – chancellor Philip
Hammond, foreign secretary Boris Johnson, Brexit secretary David Davis, home secretary Amber Rudd, transport secretary Chris Grayling and business secretary Greg Clark – remained in post. This was despite initial reports that Grayling had moved from the Department for Transport, where he is responsible for the UK’s post-Brexit flying arrangements, and expectations that Clark would move. The only significant change for
the sector saw the departure of culture secretary Karen Bradley, who was replaced by former minister for digital services Matt Hancock, who now heads the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS). John Glen retained his post
as tourism minister at DCMS as Travel Weekly went to press, where he has been since last June.
PHILIP HAMMOND: The chancellor retained his role in reshuffle Grayling took over as transport
secretary in July 2016, immediately following the Brexit referendum, and has been the focus of travel and aviation sector lobbying on the importance of ensuring flying rights between the UK and EU. Without an agreement, Britain’s
exit from the EU would remove it from the European Common Aviation Area, which underpins existing flying rights. Sophie Dekkers, easyJet UK country director, told a Travel Weekly Business Breakfast at the end of last year: “We can be reassured that the DfT has a single
Economist ranks UK third most-sustainable country
France and Germany top a new Sustainable Tourism Index produced by The Economist Intelligence Unit, with the UK in third place. The index, launched at the turn of the year, assesses countries on their commitment to developing sustainable practices in tourism. The inaugural index features just 10 countries,
with ratings of one to 100 measuring performance across five categories – the regulatory environment; environmental sustainability; socio-cultural sustainability; economic sustainability; and the travel and tourism industry. European countries took the top-three spots,
102
travelweekly.co.uk 11 January 2018
focus, unlike other government departments. Chris Grayling has reassured us that aviation is their priority.” Clark’s department, Business,
Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), is responsible for the new Package Travel Regulations the industry is still awaiting. The limited reshuffle
confounded expectations of extensive changes and appears to reflect the weakness of prime minister Theresa May in the face of divisions on Brexit and the government’s lack of an overall majority.
largely on the back of “strong policies supporting sustainability”, with “developing countries well short in policy implementation”. But the accompanying report concludes:
“While sustainable practices are taking hold, fragmentation reigns even in high-scoring countries. In no country is sustainable tourism policy sufficiently integrated between national, local and regional levels.” It also notes: “The small and medium-sized
enterprises that comprise the lion’s share of the tourism industry worldwide struggle to meet sustainability goals.” France topped the rankings with 73.9 out of
100. Germany was second with 71.7, the UK third with 62.4 and US fourth on 53.1, with Japan, India, Brazil, China, Indonesia and Egypt rating under 50.
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