Business News Round Up (15/06/2020)
Joint project is hoping to grow adventure tourism in the north-east Scotland
Opportunity North East (One), Scottish Enterprise and Aberdeenshire Council are co-funding the next phase of development of a project to increase the value of the sector in the region over the next five to 10 years.
The initiative, which is also being supported by tourism body VisitAberdeenshire, aims to encourage more visitors to stay in the region longer because of the range and quality of adventure opportunities on offer.
It will focus on the delivery of projects for new land-based and coastal activities, creating events and marketing the area as a leading UK adventure sports destination.
Before the pandemic, adventure tourism was the fastest-growing sector of the visitor economy in the UK and contributed around £75 million of annual visitor spend in the north-east.
First cars roll-off Halewood production line following return to work
The Halewood Jaguar Land Rover plant on Merseyside has marked its first vehicle produced under social distancing measures. The plant, Knowsley, returned to production of Land Rovers on June 8, following closure from March 23, due to the coronavirus.
Halewood produces the top-selling Range Rover Evoque and the updated Land Rover Discovery Sport models.
Effective social distancing, hygiene and health monitoring measures are in place following an extensive review of all production lines, engineering facilities, office areas and communal spaces as the company starts a phased return to manufacturing. The company stressed that employees’ health and wellbeing are at the centre of this plan and, with the implementation of the new protocol, staff have experienced a significant number of changes to their working day from the moment they enter the site.
Airline to resume Southampton link from Manchester Airport
UK regional airline, Eastern Airways, will resume its growing network of routes from Manchester Airport, initially including Southampton, from next week.
From Monday, June 22, an initial daily weekday service to Southampton will be the first to be resumed.
The frequency of services will be increased as appropriate through July, August and September to help restore the business and leisure connections to help the economic recovery of the North West.
Economic gloom deepens, but recovery in sight next year, says report
The EY ITEM Club has further downgraded its GDP forecast for the UK economy this year and is now predicting an eight per cent contraction for 2020 compared with the 6.8% fall it predicted in April.
Last Friday (June 12) the Office for National Statistics confirmed that UK GDP plummeted by 20.4% in April, the worst figures since records began, reflecting the widespread shutdown of many sectors under Government-imposed lockdown measures.
Since the release of its Spring Forecast 2020 in late April, the EY ITEM Club has also downgraded its Q2 2020 forecast from a 13% contraction to a record 15%.
The gloomier forecast figures reflect a poor economic performance in April due to the lockdown and deeper than expected contraction in the first quarter, a 2.0% quarter-on-quarter decline, greater than the expected 1.3% q/q contraction.
Positively, the EY ITEM Club now predicts year-on-year GDP growth of 5.6% in 2021, up from the 4.5% expected in its previous forecast.