Williamson, a qualified accountant, targeted the “failure” to begin the expansion of Heathrow and Gatwick and the lack of a high speed rail network amongst some of the factors that are “holding things back” economically for the UK.

He said: “The travel industry is a stimulating and highly competitive sector that continues to expand year on year. Our core markets; France, Germany and the US remain strong and of course we are also benefiting from increased travel from the emerging markets such as China and India.

“However, currently, we are facing some major challenges, with recent incidents discouraging long haul travel to Europe. There are also clear actions the UK government could take to improve the size of the travel industry.

“The failure to expand Heathrow and Gatwick, the long wait for high speed rail, the difficult visa regime and the world’s highest departure tax, air passenger duty, are unquestionably holding things back – all areas where positive government initiatives would benefit the economy as a whole.”

His comments came as JacTravel was awarded the Queen’s Enterprise Award for international trade.

Accepting the accolade, Williamson, who joined B2B hotel supplier in 2008 after working with Thomas Cook and the Monarch Group added: “We’re delighted to win the Queen’s Award which is significant recognition of our efforts to grow and develop JacTravel into a global market leader.”