First published in travelmole on 8th January 2021.

Business travel agents are set to go another 12 months with little or no income, the Chief Executive of the Business Travel Association has warned. Clive Wratton said the sector is unlikely to see any meaningful recovery until late 2021, or even the early months of 2022. It will mean corporate agents will have gone 18 months 'with no real cash coming through the till', he said.

Juliet Price, Consultant Executive Director, HBAA says: 'This latest lockdown, combined with the prospect of no live events or meetings until later this year, threatens to close the doors of many venues and agencies for good.

Despite the Bounceback loans and furlough extension, they cannot survive without any income for almost a year.

Please click below to see the open letter.

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So – firstly – a big up to everyone who supported, contributed, shared, retweeted etc etc to all the various initiatives over the last few months – we have all helped create something special here with a unique mandate of cross industry representation and messaging that can only evolve into better things for our industry into 2021 – THANK YOU.

HBAA board and senior management share their predictions for 2021

Collaboration and consolidation will be key trends for the business events, accommodation and meetings industry in 2021, according to the HBAA.

HBAA governance director Sian Sayward captured this when predicting: “M&A activities, joint ventures and partnerships will increase in 2021.”