Before and after Brexit there has been much debate surrounding the impact on the economy healthcare and tourism. With all the uncertainty in the air many travel companies are wondering how Brexit will affect them and if the vote for Brexit has already started to impact inbound or outbound tourism from the UK.
After the vote for Brexit the pound depreciated in value and continues to trade at a very weak level by historical standards according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC). With the pound at a lower value many are wondering just how much vacation travel will be affected.
A decrease in travel would mean less business for travel agencies airlines hotels tourist attractions and any other companies that rely heavily on tourists from the UK. According to the Telegraph.co.uk as of October 6 the pound was $1.27 against the dollar and 1.13 against the Euro a steep decline since June.
Even with the drop in value of the pound for the rest of 2016 Travel and Tourism in the UK is still expected to remain steady with a growth rate projected at 3.6 percent reported WTTC. However it was also reported that there would be a drop in outbound UK vacations by 3 percent many have opted to take their vacations within the UK.
The tourism sector in the UK has also seen higher spending from international visitors taking advantage of the favorable exchange rate[1]. According to a Deloitte report Preparing for Uncertainty following Brexit there is still a lot of uncertainty about what effect Brexit will have on the travel industry.
It was reported that if inflation accelerates or if employment rates drop consumer disposable income would be affected and could directly affect outbound leisure travel from the UK. The same report offers advice to travel companies warning them that the level of consumer uncertainty could impact travel plans similar to the actual results from Brexit.
Deloitte suggests that aviation and travel companies should identify the opportunities and challenges facing their businesses and below are some of the questions that were developed mainly for companies in the EU and the UK. Perhaps these same questions should be considered by global companies that highly depend on tourists from the UK.
- How can the UK aviation and travel industry represent their interests best so they are considered in the contract renegotiations?
- How much of our business is from the EU/UK?
- Do we or our suppliers receive EU funding how might that be impacted-and impact us?
- What impact could uncertainty and chance have on general economic growth and our growth?
- How would changes in the growth rates impact our financial situation?
- Will we now need an EU AOC if we haven already got one?
- What is the impact of Brexit on our corporate customers and what does this mean for passenger traffic trends for the future?
- Would the regulatory framework for our industry change?
- Would the government push for a deregulatory strategy?
- What is my company's capability to attract/retain talent from EU or to deploy employees from the UK in the EU?
- When should we establish a Brexit monitoring and evaluating team?
To read the entire list of questions visit: https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/uk/Documents/consumer-business/deloitte-uk-preparing-for-uncertainty-following-brexit.pdf.
Tourism Ireland Prepared for Brexit
Tourism Ireland a country that receives 42 percent of its overseas visitors from Britain has been trying to get prepared for the possible ramifications of Brexit. On July 21 Tourism Ireland hosted a Brexit briefing for tourism industry leaders. Oxford Economics shared the latest analysis and promotional plans were discussed.
Following the meeting CEO of Tourism Ireland Miall Gibbons saidAlthough it is still too soon to fully understand the long-term implications of Brexit for tourism to the island of Ireland we had a very useful discussion with tourism industry leaders today. The British market will remain of significant importance for all of us in the short medium and long-term.
We have committed to continued monitoring of developments over the coming months. But for now it is very much business as usual. Tourism Irelands 4 million promotional campaign will roll out in Britain from now until the end of the year to highlight the island of Ireland to prospective visitors and maintain the strong growth we have seen in recent years.
Sources
[1] http://news.gtp.gr/2016/08/23/wttc-tourism-resilient-terrorism/
