By Zoe Adjey

Hospitality, travel and tourism has endured a brutal few years. It is not so much collapsing consumer confidence as customers are simply being priced out- forced to choose between meals out or paying the bills.

Soaring operational costs and endless policy turbulence have left the visitor economy bracing for an Autumn Budget that could either revive the UK's global competitiveness or pile on yet more barriers.

I ask myself the question, how can the government claim to support economic growth whilst the visitor economy faces rising costs and an international market moving far faster than Westminster?

The numbers tell a sobering story.

Hospitality alone employs 3.5 million people directly, the UK's third largest employer, contributing £93 billion to the economy.

Factor in supply chain multipliers and that's 6.5........

© LBC