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and conditions – ending the practice of ‘fire and rehire’ unless there is an “immediate” risk of company failure. The provisions will mean
change in many workplaces. At least one in three employees have been in a job less than two years and more than one million are on zero-hours contracts. The government will also
strengthen statutory sick pay, “removing the lower earnings limit and cutting out the period before sick pay kicks in”; and establish a new right to bereavement leave. It also promises “stronger protections for pregnant women and new mothers” including protection from dismissal while pregnant, on maternity leave or within six months of returning to work. Much of the detail is to
come, including the process for dismissing workers during probation. In a document on ‘Next Steps’, the government suggests a statutory nine-month probation period and “tribunals not being able to award the full compensatory damages” if a dismissal is ruled “unfair”. This document also outlines
plans which include reviews of parental leave and carers’ leave, a ‘Right to Switch Off ’ to “prevent employees being contacted out of hours”, and a commitment to require large employers to report ethnicity and disability pay gaps. A new Fair Work Agency
will enforce rights at work and provide guidance to employers. The Bill covers just 28 of more
than 75 measures Labour set out before the election, leading the head of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation, Neil Carberry, to say: “The real stuff is still to come.”
Travel’s share of global emissions ‘fell to 6.7%’
Ian Taylor
Travel and tourism’s worldwide carbon footprint has fallen from close to 8% of global emissions in 2019 to 6.7% last year, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). The decrease, according to the
WTTC’s latest Environmental Impact Research, was announced at the WTTC Global Summit in Perth last week – the first calculation of the sector’s global footprint since the pandemic. The WTTC reported last month,
in a separate Travel & Tourism Economic Impact Report, that the sector returned to within 4% of its global value in 2019 last year. The report estimated the combined direct, indirect and wage-induced impacts of travel and tourism was worth $9.9 trillion or 9% of total GDP in 2023, compared with 10.4% in 2019. The WTTC launched its
Environmental Impact Research
executive Julia Simpson noted: “Travel and tourism is expanding economically while lowering its environmental footprint.” However, she said: “Our aim
Julia Simpson
report, which combines data on travel and tourism’s greenhouse gas emissions, energy use, water use, air pollution and resource use – a year ago, calculating the industry’s overall emissions in 2019 at 8.1% of the world total. Its latest report has revised down
the 2019 emissions figure to 7.8% of the global total owing to “new data and improvements in methodology”, with the fall to 6.7% in 2023 suggesting travel and tourism’s economic contribution is growing faster than its environmental impact. WTTC president and chief
is absolute reductions. We must accelerate this progress significantly to meet the Paris climate targets. We need to up our game.” The WTTC research, produced
in partnership with the Saudi- based Sustainable Global Tourism Centre and Tourism Economics, found the sector’s reliance on fossil fuel fell from 90% of energy use in 2019 to 88.2% last year and noted: “Increases in renewable energy use and reductions in fossil fuel reliance remain relatively modest.” It calculated direct tax
revenue from the sector in 2023 at $3.32 trillion, 9.6% of the global total, and stated: “Governments must use these additional revenues to invest in decarbonising infrastructure, renewable energies and supporting businesses’ green transition.”
Hays Travel reports pre-tax profit rise of £22m to £73m
Hays Travel reported a third consecutive year of rising profits on the fifth anniversary of its takeover of Thomas Cook’s retail chain. The company reported a pre-tax
profit of £73.4 million for the 12 months to April last week, up from £51.5 million the previous year and £14.5 million in 2021-22.
54 17 OCTOBER 2024
Hays recorded a total transaction
value of £2.55 billion, up from £2.19 billion the previous year and £1.07 billion in the 12 months to April 2022, following a £34 million loss in the first year of the pandemic. Owner and group chair Dame
Irene Hays noted the company received a licence to operate Thomas Cook’s 555 shops on October 9, 2019, within a day of bidding for the estate – having “initially looked at a few branches” to add to the 190 shops it had at the time. Cook had gone into liquidation on September 23.
Dame Irene Hays
Hays has made further
acquisitions since, including 19 Miles Morgan Travel shops this year. The group’s full accounts for the year to April were not available as Travel Weekly went to press.
travelweekly.co.uk
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