‘Apply for grants – and persist’ Samantha Mayling
Travel agents have backed calls by Abta urging firms to apply for a share of £300 million set aside for Covid support grants that has not yet been spent by local councils. Luke Petherbridge, Abta’s director
of public affairs, said funding is available across England and advised agents “to be persistent” with claims. Abta chief executive Mark Tanzer
has written to business minister Paul Scully and tourism minister Nigel Huddleston to ask them to remind councils of the government’s updated guidance on supporting sectors that have been particularly badly hit by the pandemic. He also asked the ministers to urge local authorities to prioritise travel businesses with the £1.5 billion discretionary business rates relief scheme. Ahead of the Budget on October 27,
Travel Weekly to host Sustainability Summit next month
Travel Weekly is to host its first Sustainability Summit this autumn as the travel industry looks to rebuild following the crippling effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. The half-day event will be held
in central London on Wednesday, November 24, shining a light on the future of the industry just weeks after the conclusion of the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference. The summit will feature panel
discussions, presentations and interviews featuring industry leaders and experts in the field, with confirmed speakers so far including Steve Heapy, chief executive, Jet2; Jane Ashton,
6 21 OCTOBER 2021
sustainability director, easyJet; Alistair Pritchard, lead partner, travel & aviation, Deloitte; Xavier Font, professor of sustainability marketing, Surrey University, and advisor to the Duke of Sussex’s Travalyst coalition; Ukko Metsola, European director general, Clia; Julia Lo Bue-Said, chief executive, Advantage Travel Partnership; and Giles Hawke, chief executive, Cosmos and Avalon Waterways. Lucy Huxley, editor-in-chief
of Travel Weekly Group, said: “The priority for the industry is to
rebuild following the devastating impact of the pandemic, but it is clear that it must do so in a sustainable way to ensure it has a long-term future. “With the COP26 conference
taking place shortly, we felt it was an appropriate time to expand our focus with this half-day summit
dedicated to the subject.” i The Sustainability Summit is an invitation-only event. If you would like to register your interest should extra places become available, visit:
tinyurl.com/TWSustainability
Abta has written to chancellor Rishi Sunak to reiterate the case for dedicated grants for travel businesses and is continuing to call for the extension of business rates relief. Petherbridge signposted firms
to Abta’s MemberZone, where they can see what is left in their local authority’s pot of grants money. He added: “If the funding is
available, we would urge members to get in touch directly with their local authority and to be persistent – providing evidence on how your business has been restricted and highlighting the guidance from government that urges support for travel companies. Perseverance is important.” David Moon, head of business
development at Advantage Travel Partnership, agreed, encouraging members to apply “as quickly as possible”.
If the funding is
available, we would urge members to get in touch directly with their local authority
He said some members had
received grants after initially being refused, and stressed: “It’s important for agents to be persistent.” Gary Lewis, chief executive of
The Travel Network Group, said many businesses in the industry had struggled to balance cashflow with wage bills and the consortium had helped members lobby MPs and local authorities to gain access to support. “Members are reporting huge
inconsistencies between local authorities offering discretionary grants,” he warned. “Despite funding
being available, travel businesses are still not recognised as a sector at-risk. “To enable people to keep their
businesses afloat and support their families, the government needs to ensure consistency of approach from authority to authority so these funds can be accessed by firms in need.” Richard Slater, owner of Henbury
Travel in Macclesfield, and northwest chairman of Abta, said agents should “not be frightened” of applying for support grants, and highlighted other grants of which businesses can take advantage. Although Slater said applications
were “hard work and challenging”, he said he had received a £5,000 Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) grant for new laptops to enable staff to work at home. He is also applying for ‘new ways of working’ help so he can take on a homeworker and buy shop furniture for social distancing.
Teletext Holidays face
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched legal action against Teletext Holidays over the OTA’s failure to pay refunds on cancelled package holidays. The CMA announced in May
that Teletext parent Truly Holdings, which also operates Alpharooms, had signed undertakings committing to refund customers for holidays cancelled due to Covid. In September, it warned it would take Truly Holdings to court unless urgent action to process refunds was taken. On Monday, the CMA said it “does
not consider Truly Holdings has done enough to provide refunds to package holiday customers with outstanding claims, including recent cancellations, or to make sure it pays all future refunds that are due within the 14 days required by law. “The CMA has therefore filed
travelweekly.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64
