'October bank holiday could help tourism recover from coronavirus'

An October bank holiday could help mitigate the losses the tourism industry has suffered due to coronavirus, a tourism boss has suggested.

Patricia Yates, acting chief executive at Visit Britain, told a Commons committee this morning that the arms-length body had been in discussion with the Government about an additional holiday later in the year.

Ms Yates said Visit Britain had put a number of proposals to the Government to help support the industry, including extra funding and expanding the furlough scheme, with the latter being put in place.

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Patricia Yates, Acting Chief Executive Officer, Visit Britain, giving evidence to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee on the subject of Impact of Covid-19 on DCMS sectors. Photo: PAPatricia Yates, Acting Chief Executive Officer, Visit Britain, giving evidence to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee on the subject of Impact of Covid-19 on DCMS sectors. Photo: PA
Patricia Yates, Acting Chief Executive Officer, Visit Britain, giving evidence to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee on the subject of Impact of Covid-19 on DCMS sectors. Photo: PA

But she added: “The idea that we could possibly have a bank holiday in October, because the industry has lost the benefit of the two main bank holidays, I think that's an idea that's being considered.

“So have an October bank holiday around half term, because what we're going to need to do is not just generate people in July and August, but really extend the season this year for the domestic market.”

Ms Yates warned billions was likely to be lost in the tourism sector as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, both from international and domestic holidaymakers.

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She told the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee: "Every time we do the modelling the figures get worse. So for inbound, I mean we were looking at the beginning of this year at about £26.6bn coming from inbound tourism, we reckon a £15bn drop on that.

"And for domestic, an industry that's normally worth about £80bn, a £22bn drop on that.

"And that's actually before we've factored in the quarantine because we don't clearly quite know what the measures are going to look like."

She said while it would be the hope that domestic tourism this summer could pick up the slack and help alleviate some of the losses from the international sector, a "lack of confidence" among people around travelling is a concern.

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She said: "You've got a collapse of the supply industry as well as collapse of demand and really to get British tourism up and running this summer, and the summer is hugely important, you're going to need that domestic audience. I think the worrying thing we see is the lack of confidence in the British public about travelling."

She added: "So there's a real job to be done there, given that it has to be the year of domestic tourism, there's a real job to be done there in convincing people that it's socially responsible to travel and enjoy a holiday. And that it's safe to do so."

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