Advantage Travel Partnership CEO Julia Lo Bue-Said says the industry needs to lobby MPs more, after a ‘disappointing’ visit to Parliament this week convinced her that travel’s voice is still not being heard.
Julia spent Tuesday in Parliament as a guest of her local MP, including attending Chancellor’s Questions in the House of Commons.
She told Travel Gossip: “It was a great opportunity to go along, but I was disappointed that there were no questions at all from any MPs flagging the crisis that’s currently affecting travel.
“The reality is there are just not enough local MPs that are aware of the travel industry and what its asks are. There needs to be more talking, more lobbying and more consistent messaging.”
On a LinkedIn post, she added: “Outbound travel is a major contributor to the UK economy, supporting jobs, driving growth, and connecting people and businesses across the globe. It deserves greater recognition in these important discussions.
“Today also highlighted the importance of building strong relationships with MPs and their constituency teams something that has been a key focus of the work undertaken by the UK Outbound Travel Group.”
More than 80 agents and operators have so far hosted their local MP, under an initiative set up by the Outbound Travel Group. Last month, Conservative Party Leader Kemi Badenoch visited Sunlounger Travel in King’s Lynn. But Julia said: “We need other industry representatives to join forces [with Outbound Travel Group] and make sure that we can continue raising the profile. It’s not there today. It’s about making sure that you can continue to have success across the political spectrum.”
She said that, despite challenges faced by the industry, ‘there is still an appetite for travel’ and she praised Jet2, easyJet and TUI for pledging not to add fuel surcharges.
“As we come out of this upcoming bank holiday, people will be thinking about summer and this is a great opportunity for our members to start conversations with their customers.”
