Tag Archives: tourism

Caron Lindsay

Getting a story out – the Liberal Democrat press team in action over furlough extension

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 30th September 2021 - 3:34 pm

The Press Team at Lib Dem HQ don’t just write press releases and send them out, hoping that journalists will publish them. They actively go out and try and get them published. A great success story is a push on the end of furlough, highlighting a letter written to Chancellor Rishi Sunak by Lib Dem Treasury Spokesperson Christine Jardine asking him to extend furlough for six months to those sectors which are still struggling such as tourism, travel and the creative arts.

Christine says this is important to avoid a “tidal wave” of job losses as the scheme comes to an end.

Christine points out that the cost of six months’ vital support would cost less than last year’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme.

Christine urged the Chancellor to “consider the impact on the lives of those that could find themselves out of a job at the end of the week.” She added it would be “devastating for countless families already facing a winter of spiralling bills and cuts to working benefits.”

Christine said:

The withdrawal of furlough risks having a devastating impact on countless families already facing a winter of soaring energy bills.The government needs to rethink its approach or the country could face a Coronavirus Black Thursday.

The Liberal Democrats are demanding that furlough is extended for the industries that are being hardest hit by the pandemic, to prevent a tidal wave of job losses in the coming weeks.This would support the most vulnerable workers through winter and cost less than what ministers spent on last year’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme.

Thousands of people relying on furlough are worrying about their livelihoods at a time when the impact of the pandemic is far from over. Supporting them and their families is both the right and responsible thing to do.

So where was this covered?

Basically everywhere:

The Independent 

The Standard

Wales online

ITV

The Graun

Sky News

Trade Travel Gazette – article by Christine

Trade Travel Gazette – report

City AM 

The Metro 

The Scotsman 

The Mirror 

The Express and Star

The Torygraph

Planet Radio

Even the Fail

Well done to the press team.

And if you want to see Christine’s letter to the Chancellor, it’s here.

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , and | 9 Comments
Mark Valladares

24 July 2020 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Fri 24th July 2020 - 11:55 pm
  • Drop in overseas visitors points to support need for tourism
  • Care sector is facing a new crisis as we emerge from lockdown – Davey
  • Scrap costly Police & Crime Commissioners
  • PM’s refusal to learn lessons shows why immediate inquiry is essential

Drop in overseas visitors points to support need for tourism

Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron has called for more support to help the tourism sector as ONS statistics published today revealing there were 1.4 million visits to the UK by overseas visitors in March 2020, 54% fewer than in March 2019.

The Party has previously pushed for a review into the impact of coronavirus on the sector, to take into account options such as an extension of the furlough, grants and loans schemes until 2021.

Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron said:

Countless businesses are facing serious financial hardship and many more are worried about job losses, particularly across the tourism sector.

With half the usual footfall from flights in March, which we know has been worse since, Ministers must see this as a reminder that the tourism industry must be given the tools it needs to recover.

That is why Liberal Democrats are calling on the Government to extend furlough support until it is safe and create and enhance bespoke packages for sectors like hospitality, leisure and culture.

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Posted in News and Press releases | Also tagged , , , , , and | 3 Comments
Katherine Lewis

Ideas to help Tourism for the UK

By Katherine Lewis | Fri 19th June 2020 - 6:31 pm

Embed from Getty Images

Each year every tourism business has to complete a tax return, to allow HMRC know how much profit it has made, and how much tax is due.

With COVID, we know that the back end of the tax year 2019-2020 March was virtually a write off, and since the beginning of the 2020-2021 tax year, trade has almost been non-existent.

Since COVID the UK Government has generously seen fit to support British businesses by furloughing staff at a rate of 80% of their gross pay. Although wage costs are a vast amount of the tourism trade’s costs, the premises costs are also sinking our existing tourism businesses.

But how do we help them, when there are so many restrictions on COVID induced health and safety which makes almost all tourism venues not only unprofitable but barely able to break even?

One suggestion might be to make tax return completion every 6 months whilst COVID is among us. Additionally, to make the losses available to previous year profits, therefore producing tax refunds. All that is happening is that we are speeding up the tax return process, in order to keep these businesses with additional cash to see them through. In order to allow 6 months’ tax returns and carry back losses it must be included in the Budget to make it law.

How would bi-annual tax returns help?

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 1 Comment
Dee Doocey

Making British tourism work for everyone

By Dee Doocey | Mon 2nd September 2019 - 3:15 pm

Suppose you could create more jobs for young people and give them a springboard to a satisfying career. Suppose you could spread wealth all around Britain, especially in left behind regions. Suppose you could attract more money from overseas, just when the Conservatives are trying to barricade Britain.

In Bournemouth, you have the opportunity to endorse a blueprint to do just that. Sitting behind the motion Open Britain – policies to support the UK tourism industry is a detailed ‘spokesperson’s paper’, with a whole set of proposals to give tourism the attention in government that it deserves.

The critical …

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Posted in Conference | Also tagged | 4 Comments
Eluned Parrott

Eluned Parrott AM writes…Tourism tax reduction will boost economy and create jobs

By Eluned Parrott | Thu 10th September 2015 - 12:30 pm

Tourism is a major part of our economy, and one of the few industries which truly covers the whole of the UK. There isn’t a single Parliamentary seat which doesn’t benefit from tourism and it’s a sector with great potential for growth.

As Liberal Democrats I believe we should use the levers at our disposal to stimulate the economy and create opportunities for people to get on in life, no matter where they live. That is why, as a group of local parties from across the UK, we have brought this motion to conference. By reducing VAT to 5% for tourism businesses – bringing the UK into line with most of our European neighbours – we could do exactly that.

British tourism is at a competitive disadvantage, being perceived as an expensive holiday destination when compared to other EU countries. The impact of this on our tourism businesses is that it encourages UK customers to holiday abroad and deters visitors to the UK.

But price sensitivity in the tourism industry also acts in subtler ways. With UK hotels seen as more expensive than continental ones, visitors to Europe from the US and Far East spend less time here, ticking off the major sights in London and never stepping beyond the capitol. The higher upfront cost of staying here means that businesses in other parts of the UK don’t benefit, and those visitors that do come spend less in restaurants, shops and visitor attractions because they simply aren’t here very long.

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Adam Corlett

Conference Countdown 2015: Cutting VAT for tourism would be a costly mistake

By Adam Corlett | Tue 1st September 2015 - 10:33 am

In the run-up to Autumn Conference in Bournemouth, we’ll be looking ahead to examine the highlights in the debating hall, the fringe and training rooms. You can find the papers here. You can find all the posts in the series here.

One of the motions at conference is for reducing VAT on tourism as far as possible. Here’s why that’s a bad idea.

The idea is to reduce VAT on hotels and selected attractions from the standard rate of 20% to 5% – the minimum allowed by the EU. This is something the British Hospitality Association has been lobbying the Treasury on for years. The motion refers to the importance of tourism more generally, with figures that include all restaurants, pubs and outbound flights, amongst other things, but I assume its VAT proposal is (mercifully) more limited.

The government’s response to this lobbying (under both Labour and the Coalition of which we were a part) has been to point to the substantial price tag. The cost of cutting VAT for accommodation alone would be £2 billion a year, with amusement parks and similar adding another £200 million. This is serious money. A comparable total would be the cost of the Pupil Premium that Lib Dems fought so hard to introduce.

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Posted in Conference, Events and News | Also tagged , and | 22 Comments
Charles Kennedy

Charles Kennedy MP writes: UK’s Air Passenger Duty is damaging our economy

By Charles Kennedy | Wed 29th August 2012 - 12:59 pm

The eyes of the world are now on the UK for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. We have heard a lot about the legacy of the Games, in terms of the rejuvenation of East London and getting more children into sport, but we also have a fantastic opportunity to create an economic legacy right across the UK. From my perspective, as a Highlands and Islands MP, we want all those visiting or watching the Games to see the beauty of our rugged coastline and mountains and be inspired to visit the outstanding beauty of the whole of the UK, …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 26 Comments
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