Major global travel and tourism group to quit London HQ and move to Europe because of Brexit
The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) has become the latest major international body to announce plans to close its UK headquarters due to Brexit.
The group, which represents the global private sector in travel and tourism and has been headquartered in the UK since its inception, is preparing to move to mainland Europe to benefit from “lower operating costs and EU single market access”, the chairman said.
Manfredi Lefebvre added: “Brexit was one of the key factors in our decision to potentially move our headquarters outside the UK. The benefits of a European head office include lower operational costs, EU single market access and the recruitment flexibility of a multilingual talent pool.
“The high standard of research services that our members, governments and stakeholders receive worldwide will continue to be at the forefront of our work, and we are confident that we will attract high-quality talent in the wider European market for all our services to our members globally.”
The decision comes after the WTTC board approved a relocation plan that included Switzerland, Italy and Spain among possible destinations.
The move comes after Chancellor Rachel Reeves blamed the country’s recent economic woes on the ongoing impact of the decision to leave the EU.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has already calculated that Brexit will cause a 4 per cent drop in the UK’s GDP over the long term.
WTTC is not the first institution to turn its back on the UK due to Brexit.
Previously, Bank of America Merrill Lynch made Dublin its new European headquarters after the UK left the EU.
P&O shifted ship restoration from the UK to Cyprus following Brexit; Panasonic shifts its European headquarters to the Netherlands; MoneyGram moved its headquarters from London to Brussels; The European Medicines Agency and the European Banking Authority have left the UK.
UK European Movement president Dr. Mike Galsworthy said: “If they undertake this move, they could be added to the dismal list of hubs leaving the UK for Europe because of Brexit, such as the London-based European Medicines Agency, with its annual taxable income of over £300 million, or the European Banking Authority, or the European headquarters of Sony and Panasonic, or the moves by Lloyds and Barclays regarding the loss of Brexit “passport rights”.
“By 2019, following the Brexit vote but before it was implemented, a report found that £900bn of financial firms’ assets had been moved out of the UK. Brexit will continue to strip assets from the UK – something politicians now seem ready to publicly acknowledge, after years of looking down their own shoes and changing the subject at any mention of the obvious damage leaving the EU would do to the UK economy.”
A response was requested from the UK government.
But Sir Keir Starmer has ruled out rejoining the EU, single market or customs union but has negotiated a reset deal with Brussels to help remove economic hurdles caused by Brexit.
