The hospitality industry matters more than farming
The first full assessments of the impact of foot and mouth on the UK economy are now being made and it does not look pretty.
According to the Countryside Agency, the government body, the disease will have destroyed between £2.4bn and £4.1bn of economic output by the end of this year. About a quarter of businesses in the UK have been affected, from agriculture to tourism.
But it is agriculture that has so far gleaned the lion's share of government aid and attention - and this has to stop. In its report, Foot and Mouth Disease: the State of the Countryside, published last week, the Countryside Agency estimates that agriculture and related industries suffered a loss of between £800m and £2.4bn. Farmers have been paid more than £1.1bn in compensation as a result.
The UK agricultural sector has a turnover of £5bn a year, employing 11,000 people. Catering, which includes hotels, has a turnover 10 times this. Taken as a whole, the hospitality sector is just about the biggest employer in the UK.
And yet, despite tourism running at 85% of last year's level, the only concession for tourism businesses is the ability to defer paying some taxes and some rate relief - and only in rural areas.
The overall national revenue loss due to the epidemic's impact on tourism is estimated at between £2bn and £3bn. Some 80% of accommodation providers have been hit with 11% saying business has halved or more.
According to a separate survey by Lloyds TSB, 35% of businesses in the catering and hotel sector that had suffered effects had lost more than £50,000. This is a devastating number for the typically small and family run concerns most affected.
The government has so far granted just £3.8m directly to the English Tourism Council to fight back with bids of £31.2m and £22m submitted by the ETC and the British Tourism Authority for longer term recovery strategies. A further £12m was also announced as help for the tourism industry in early May.
But these sums are pitifully short of the amount given to the subsidy hungry agriculture sector. And the actions brought by the government to halt the disease were largely to preserve existing farming practices and had a devastating impact on the more important tourism economy. This imbalance has to stop.
Last week the Hilton Group demonstrated the health and vitality of the UK's biggest hospitality companies in largely shrugging off the impact of foot and mouth. But the company wants to see the government now do its bit by putting cash in to promote UK tourism, particularly overseas.
Next year is the Queen's Golden Jubilee. It is the ideal time to exploit the virtues of visiting the UK. The government needs to focus on helping the vast and growing tourism and hospitality industry rather than propping up the declining and tiny agricultural sector.
*Andrew Sangster is editor of Hotel Report and Hotel Report Online News, both published by Martin Information
The first full assessments of the impact of foot and mouth on the UK economy are now being made and it does not look pretty.
According to the Countryside Agency, the government body, the disease will have destroyed between £2.4bn and £4.1bn of economic output by the end of this year. About a quarter of businesses in the UK have been affected, from agriculture to tourism.
But it is agriculture that has so far gleaned the lion's share of government aid and attention - and this has to stop. In its report, Foot and Mouth Disease: the State of the Countryside, published last week, the Countryside Agency estimates that agriculture and related industries suffered a loss of between £800m and £2.4bn. Farmers have been paid more than £1.1bn in compensation as a result.
The UK agricultural sector has a turnover of £5bn a year, employing 11,000 people. Catering, which includes hotels, has a turnover 10 times this. Taken as a whole, the hospitality sector is just about the biggest employer in the UK.
And yet, despite tourism running at 85% of last year's level, the only concession for tourism businesses is the ability to defer paying some taxes and some rate relief - and only in rural areas.
The overall national revenue loss due to the epidemic's impact on tourism is estimated at between £2bn and £3bn. Some 80% of accommodation providers have been hit with 11% saying business has halved or more.
According to a separate survey by Lloyds TSB, 35% of businesses in the catering and hotel sector that had suffered effects had lost more than £50,000. This is a devastating number for the typically small and family run concerns most affected.
The government has so far granted just £3.8m directly to the English Tourism Council to fight back with bids of £31.2m and £22m submitted by the ETC and the British Tourism Authority for longer term recovery strategies. A further £12m was also announced as help for the tourism industry in early May.
But these sums are pitifully short of the amount given to the subsidy hungry agriculture sector. And the actions brought by the government to halt the disease were largely to preserve existing farming practices and had a devastating impact on the more important tourism economy. This imbalance has to stop.
Last week the Hilton Group demonstrated the health and vitality of the UK's biggest hospitality companies in largely shrugging off the impact of foot and mouth. But the company wants to see the government now do its bit by putting cash in to promote UK tourism, particularly overseas.
Next year is the Queen's Golden Jubilee. It is the ideal time to exploit the virtues of visiting the UK. The government needs to focus on helping the vast and growing tourism and hospitality industry rather than propping up the declining and tiny agricultural sector.
*Andrew Sangster is editor of Hotel Report and Hotel Report Online News, both published by Martin Information
