The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) has revealed the collapse of the UK’s travel and tourism sector. This led to a loss of £148 billion for the UK economy in 2020.
The council’s annual Economic Impact Report showed that the travel and tourism GDP fell from £238 billion in 2019 to £90 billion the following year.
This was accompanied by a loss of 307,000 jobs in the sector across the UK.
But the WTTC believes that a further estimated 11 million jobs are currently sustained by “government fiscal and liquidity incentives. As well as furlough and job protection schemes”.
UK Tourism Still Affected
The report also revealed that domestic visitor spending fell by 63.2 percent due to nationwide lockdowns. Meanwhile, international spending fell by 71.6 percent.
This is due to “stringent travel restrictions, ineffective quarantines and constantly changing government policies.”
Last month, the WTTC called for an earlier restart of international travel, warning that almost £27 billion would be lost from the UK economy if it delayed it until May 17.
The WTTC has argued that international travel can safely resume a comprehensive pre-departure testing regime alongside mask-wearing, enhanced health, hygiene protocols, and digital health passes. It states:
“These measures would be the foundation to build the recovery of the many millions of jobs lost due to the pandemic.
They would also reduce the terrible social implications these losses have had on communities dedicated to Travel & Tourism and upon ordinary people who Covid-19 restrictions have isolated.”
Optimism for UK’s Vaccine Rollout
Gloria Guevara, President, and CEO of the WTTC added:
“There are grounds for optimism if the UK’s world-leading vaccine rollout continues at pace.
And travel restrictions are relaxed just before the busy summer season alongside a clear roadmap for increased mobility.
With all these factors in place, WTTC predicts the 300,000 Travel & Tourism jobs lost in the UK could return by 2022.
“The concern is that the government’s courageous move to protect jobs is not sustainable in the long-term. The government knows tens of thousands of SMEs.
This makes up the bulk of the embattled Travel & Tourism sector. They are still fighting for their survival, putting at risk the country’s capacity to recover from the crushing impact of Covid-19.
“WTTC believes that another year of terrible losses can be avoided if the government supports the swift resumption of international travel.
This will be vital to powering the turnaround of the UK economy.
“Our research shows that if mobility and international travel resumes by June this year.
The sector’s contribution to global GDP could rise sharply in 2021, by 48.5 percent, year-on-year.”
Meanwhile, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, and London Heathrow have called for more certainty on international travel. It is set to be permitted from May 17.
Recovery in Other Sectors
The IMF has upgraded both its UK and global forecasts compared with what it projected in January.
But the British economy is still predicted to return to its pre-pandemic level of activity only in late 2022.
The agency also warns that recoveries are diverging dangerously within and between countries.
The new UK forecast is for growth of 5.3% this year and 5.1% in 2022.
Both figures are upgrades, though the latter is only marginally higher than the January forecast.
The recovery follows last year’s pandemic-driven contraction of 9.9%, which was the deepest of any of the G7 major developed economies.