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UK travel industry braced for short-term pain, says survey
July 08, 2010

UK. The UK travel industry is bracing itself for a year of relatively low growth and subdued consumer confidence in 2011, according to the annual Barclays Corporate Travel Forum Survey, just published. But many travel companies are optimistic about a return to growth in 2012 and 2013.

In the poll of 110 senior travel industry executives, almost two-thirds of respondents said consumer confidence would either remain the same or decrease next year, compared with just 38% predicting improving confidence. This was supported by the fact that just 43% of travel executives believe business conditions for their operation would improve in 2011.

There was confidence among some operators in this year’s prospects, with 35% saying they expected at least a +10% increase in sales in 2010, with 23% predicting a +20% increase.

Long-term prospects for the travel industry were expected to be bright, with 73% of travel companies predicting conditions would improve for their business in 2012 compared with this year, while 85% predict their business will be better off in 2013.

Barclays Corporate Head of Travel Chris Lee said: “Travel companies are now demonstrating a growing confidence in their long term prospects, which stems in part from a general resilience in the travel industry throughout the recession, with an annual holiday moving from a ‘want’ to a ‘need’ amongst much of the UK travelling public.

“While there was certainly no consensus on what the industry would look like in a few years time amongst operators at the Barclays Corporate Travel Forum [a leading travel industry event - Ed], there was little doubt that this resilience would result in a continued trend of fewer failures in the industry than expected during and post the recession.”

Source :- http://www.moodiereport.com