The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) has become the latest major international institution to announce plans to close its headquarters in the UK because of Brexit.
The group, which represents the global private sector in travel and tourism and has been based in the UK since it was founded, is set to relocate to mainland Europe to benefit from “lower operational costs and EU single market access”, its chairman has said.
Manfredi Lefebvre added: “Brexit is one of the main factors in our decision to potentially move our headquarters beyond the UK. The benefits of a European head office include lower operational costs, EU single market access and recruitment flexibility of a multilingual talent pool.
“The high standard of research services our members, governments and the stakeholders around the world receive will continue to be at the forefront of our work and we are confident we will attract high-quality talent in the wider European market, for all of our services to members globally.”
The decision comes after the board of the WTTC endorsed a plan to move, with Switzerland, Italy and Spain among the likely destinations.
The move comes after chancellor Rachel Reeves blamed the country’s latest 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 have a long-term reduction in GDP by 4 per cent to the UK.
The WTTC is not the first institution to turn its back on the UK because of Brexit.
Previously, Bank of America Merrill Lynch made Dublin its new European headquarters as a result of the UK leaving the EU.
P&O shifted its ship restoration from the UK to Cyprus in the wake of Brexit; Panasonic shifted its European HQ to the Netherlands; MoneyGram moved its HQ from London to Brussels; and the European Medicines Agency and European Bank Authority both left the UK.
Dr Mike Galsworthy, chair of European Movement UK, said: “If they do undertake this move, then they can be added to a depressing list of HQs that have departed the UK to Europe over Brexit. Such as the European Medicines Agency, which was based in London with its over £300m taxable annual revenue, or the European Banking authority, or the European headquarters of Sony and Panasonic, or the moves of Lloyds and Barclays over Brexit’s loss of “passporting rights”.
“By 2019, in the wake of the Brexit vote but before it was even implemented, a report found £900bn in 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 admit publicly, after years of staring at their shoes and shifting the subject at any mention of the blatant damage leaving the EU has wreaked on the UK’s economy.”
The UK government has been asked for a response.
However, 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 barriers caused by Brexit.
