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| Hospitality Today | Aug/Sept 2016
Begbies Traynor, the UK’s leading
independent insolvency firm, expects the
UK’s tourism industry to be one of the first
sectors of the economy to benefit from the
Brexit vote “fallout”, as the weak pound
makes Britain an even more desirable and
cost effective holiday destination for both
domestic and international holidaymakers.
According to Begbies Traynor’s research,
British tourism businesses were already in
a state of improving financial health in the
three months leading up to the Brexit vote,
with levels of “financial distress” falling
4% across UK-focused travel and leisure
businesses.
Julie Palmer, Partner at Begbies Traynor,
says: “Since the Brexit vote, while most sectors
of the economy have started to batten down
the hatches to wait for the Brexit storm to blow
over, in contrast the UK’s domestic travel and
tourism industry is expected to be one of the
first sectors of the economy to see tangible
financial benefits from the Referendum result.
“The significantly weaker pound has
already made travel to Europe for British
families £245 more expensive on average,
which should encourage more to favour
staycations on home soil. Meanwhile currency
fluctuations have also made travel to the UK
from Europe and the US in particular more
affordable, helping incoming tourists to
get a lot more bang for their buck.”
International tourism
also growing strongly
Meanwhile, international tourist arrivals
grew by 5% between January and April 2016
according to the latest UNWTO World Tourism
Barometer. Prospects for May-August remain
positive, with around 500 million tourists
expected to travel abroad in the Northern
Hemisphere summer holiday peak season.
Destinations worldwide received 348 million
international tourists (overnight visitors)
between January and April 2016, some 18
million more than the same period last year
(+5.3%). This follows an increase of 4.6%
in 2015, and could make 2016 the seventh
consecutive year of above-average growth,
with international arrivals increasing by 4% or
more every year following the crisis in 2009.
UNWTO forecasts international tourist
arrivals to increase by 3.5% to 4.5% over the
full year 2016, in line with UNWTO’s longterm projection of 3.8% growth a year until
2020.
According to the UNWTO Tourism
Confidence Index, prospects for May-August
2016 remain positive and in line with the
performance of January-April. The Index
shows confidence is highest in Europe,
followed by the Americas.