Advantage Travel Partnership CEO Julia Lo Bue-Said has called for a full review of business rates after Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced a 20% cut for pubs, clubs and live music venues.
Julia, who is also the spokesperson for the UK Outbound Travel Group, said the new PM should also consider the national minimum wage and National Insurance contributions together, rather than piecemeal.
She said: “The decision by Andy Burnham to back a 20% cut in business rates for pubs, bars and live music venues is a welcome recognition of the pressures facing businesses that are central to the UK’s economy.
“But where is the support for hotels, restaurants and the thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that underpin so much of the UK’s economy and workforce?”
Describing the visitor economy as ‘an interconnected ecosystem’, Julia added: “Travel agents, tour operators, hotels, restaurants, attractions, transport providers and hospitality businesses all rely on one another to drive economic growth. Supporting one part of that ecosystem while overlooking others risks limiting the overall impact.”
She pointed out that independent travel businesses and other travel SMEs are still repaying COVID loans while facing rising employment costs and business overheads, along with economic uncertainty.
“Our sector cannot keep absorbing cost after cost while being asked to drive growth,” she said.
“Business rates need a full review, and national insurance contributions and the minimum wage must be considered together rather than piecemeal, because for an SME, operating in the travel sector they are impacted not only by domestic policies but by global crisis as well.
“Give these businesses policy certainty and a clear economic strategy and they will invest, grow and create jobs. Without it, we are asking them to plan in the dark.”
