Tourism industry marked great success of the UK economy recently and all for its weaker value of the pound since the Brexit referendum. Travellers from all across the globe visited the place as the UK is now a much cheaper destination than it used to be.
Mostly, the Europeans, Americans and Chinese people are taking advantage of the weaker sterling value. That’s clear from the cacophony of different languages and accents outside Buckingham Palace, and on the streets around the Palace of Westminster.
The American tourists are now finding the place more economical than it used to be. According to French tourists, London is not more expensive than in France. Overall, the euro-pound rates has made the tourists happier than before.
Two-thirds of the international visitors enjoying London’s sites, Cornwall’s beaches and Edinburgh’s Royal Mile are from the rest of the European Union.
The tourism agency VisitBritain forecasts there’ll be a 6% rise in the number of international visitors in 2017, with large numbers coming from France in particular.
VisitBritain’s director Patricia Yates says: “The currency is in our favour. It might motivate more people to come.”
The latest data from Forward Keys revealed that the UK will be about 9% higher for August to October this year compared to the same period of 2016. Interestingly, the bookingsfrom China has gone up by 20% and those from the US are 23% higher. Also, it is not just the tourists but the spending has also grown up. VisitBritain predicts tourists’ spending will surge by 14% this year. Sterling has tumbled 16% against the euro since the June 2016 referendum, and has fallen 23% against the US dollar.
Over the past two years, the pound has dropped about 30% against the euro.
As a bigger leap, Hilton, which already has 138 hotels in the UK, is planning to open 30 more, partly because of the tourism boost spurred by the fall in sterling. The company is expecting a huge profit as it already has seen double-digit growth in the UK over the past year.
Despite “Brexit bounce”, the sharp increase in tourist numbers began before the sharp drop in the pound, and the industry says it isn’t relying on currency depreciation to increase numbers further. VisitBritain’s Patricia Yates, however said that they operate in a competitive global environment and will never be a cheap destination.
