24
Sector Focus
Against the odds
Martin Fullard attended UKinbound’s AGM at the Mercure Bristol Grand
Hotel to take a temperature test of the UK’s tourism sector
uring its Annual
Convention in Bristol,
travel trade association
UKinbound announced
the top challenges its
members face in 2020.
Concerns include a
negative and
unwelcoming perception
of the UK resulting from
Brexit (60%) and
recruiting and retaining
staff (52%).
In addition, only 48% of tourism
businesses taking part in the survey
believe they will be ready for Brexit
by the end of the transition period
on 31 December 2020 with 44% of
tourism businesses stating they
don’t know how long preparations
could take.
The results were amassed as part
of the association’s January 2020
Business
Barometer
member
survey,
compiled by Qa
Research,
which also
looked at
business operating
conditions in Q4
2019.
More positively,
visitor numbers,
bookings, and customer
orders were the same or
up for 72% of members in
Q4 2019, compared to the
same period in 2018.
Similarly, yields were also the
same or up for 83% of
businesses over the same
periods.
One in three respondents said
they were experiencing growth
from the US market, while Germany
and France continue to be the most
in decline markets.
"There are significant
challenges now and ahead for
our members due to the
impact of the coronavirus on
the Chinese market, negative
perceptions of the UK and the
looming prospect of the end
of Free Movement."
In Q4 China was the second
leading growth market for members,
with some suggesting this will be a
pivotal market post Brexit. However,
a number of businesses said their
2020 optimism has wavered due to
the coronavirus outbreak.
Joss Croft, CEO, UKinbound, said
it is encouraging to hear that many
of the association’s members are
experiencing strong forward
bookings and that they’re confident
about business in 2020.
On the challenges
www.conference-news.co.uk
inbound tourism is facing, Croft
said: “There are significant
challenges now and ahead for our
members due to the impact of the
coronavirus on the Chinese market,
negative perceptions of the UK and
the looming prospect of the end of
Free Movement. Our members are
already struggling to recruit
employees with foreign language
skills and are worried about the
administration involved in recruiting
non-UK employees post Brexit.
“We intend to work with the
government over the coming
months to ensure that their new
immigration policy treats the
tourism industry fairly and if
needed, we will campaign for an
extension to the transition period so
that businesses have enough time
to prepare and adapt.”
Mind your language
Addressing the association’s
convention, UKinbound chairman
James Aitken suggested that after
having spoken to a large
portion of the
membership, it was
clear that the main
areas which concern
the UK travel trade
industry, and by
association
business tourism,
include
sustainability,
over-tourism,
the UK’s
‘brand’ in a
post-Brexit
Europe, and
recruitment.
The issue of
recruitment
was the hot
topic in
UKinbound’s exclusive CEO
Roundtable. Kelly Strong, MD of
Strong Recruitment, cited that the