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| Bed & Breakfast News | Christmas 2016
Tourism & Brexit- update
Brexit continues to dominate debate about the future- not least of tourism. David Weston, the CEO of the Bed & Breakfast Association, took part in the last meeting of the UK Government’ s Tourism Industry Council on 23rd November, chaired by Tourism Minister Tracey Crouch MP- and the entire agenda was given over to the effects on our industry of leaving the EU.
The Tourism Alliance( the umbrella body for all aspects of UK tourism, of which the B & B Association are members) had prepared an outline document listing the key areas of legislation crucial to our industry which will be affected by Brexit- from Visas to APD, immigration controls, the Single Aviation Market, the Airport Charges Directive, passenger rights, coach and bus regulations, rail regulations, the Package Travel Directive, and many more areas.
Several Government departments will have their work cut out over the next two years and more, trying to replace all the existing legal provisions which affect us with new arrangements at least as good.
Meanwhile, the British Hospitality Association( BHA) announced that the number of leisure tourists coming to the UK dropped by almost 400,000 in the first nine months of the year, compared to last year, according to the first BHA Travel Monitor.
However overall, the number of visitors is up by 700,000: the increase coming from a 3.8 % rise in business travellers and an 8.2 % increase in people visiting friends or relatives. There has also been a 5.5 % increase in the number of people going abroad in the year to date. In September the number of outbound tourists rose 10.1 %, compared to the same month last year, confounding post-Brexit expectations. Inbound visitors in September were up by 1.3 %, year on year, with business visitors up 6.6 %.
Ufi Ibrahim, Chief Executive of the BHA said:
“ We have launched The BHA Travel Monitor so that we can provide, through detailed and structured analysis of passenger data, a true picture of hospitality and tourism performance. For instance our analysis of the increase in the number of incoming people up to the end of September shows that it is not because of more leisure tourists, which might have been the initial impression. There has been no post European referendum tourist surge.”
The BHA Travel Monitor, which will be published monthly and quarterly, also highlights a year on year decrease in overall UK holiday spend by overseas visitors.
Nevertheless, confidence levels are at a 12 month high amongst UK hospitality and tourism businesses. A recent survey by UKinbound( which represents inbound tour operators, hotels and tourist attractions) found that 67 % of businesses believe their bookings will increase over the next 12 months( this compares with just 42 % in May and June).
Results from the latest UKinbound business barometer show that bookings and arrivals for July and August were up year-on-year, with the US leading as the top growth market. By contrast, UK inbound tourism saw a continued decline in visitors from France.