Impact Of Brexit On UK Tourism Industry

Impact of Brexit on the UK tourism

The tourism industry is the most successful and largest industry in the UK in the past two decades. Since 2009, the UK tourism industry has increased largely contributing almost 26% to the economy of the country. After long proposals and debates, finally, in 23^rd June 2016 Brexit finally happened (BBC News, 2017). Because of Brexit, UK was no longer a part of the European Union. As a result, the entire economy and business of the UK were largely affected. One of the most affected business sector of the UK due to Brexit was the tourism industry. The tourism industry in the UK was both positively and negatively affected due to Brexit. This essay highlights the impact of Brexit on the UK travel and tourism industry.

Tourism is the fastest growing industrial sector in the UK that generates almost 9% of the country’s GDP and 10% of the country’s employment (ABTA The Travel Association, 2017). It has been predicted that post-Brexit, the country’s tourism will be adversely affected in the long end. Most of the UK’s airline routes to the US and the EU are developed based on the EU agreements. Therefore, due to Brexit, the UK has to revise the terms and conditions in terms of the airline routes. As commented by Kennell and Chaperon (2013), unlike other sectors, the tourism sector does not have the option of immediate fallback. Therefore, sudden reductions in the number of routes in the UK would adversely affect the holidaymakers, visitors and the business travellers. As travel and tourism are one of the largest industry in the UK, the Government needs to ensure that tourism services continue to thrive after and during the Brexit negotiations.

Brexit has resulted in the fall in the exchange rate of GBP (Colson, 2017). As a result, the UK is predicted to enjoy record-breaking tourism, as the fall in GBP maximizes the number of visitors across the world. The pound is one of the highest currency rates in the world thereby, making it unaffordable to people of all classes. Brexit has resulted in the fall in pounds that provide an opportunity for tourists across the globe enjoy and avail the UK tourism. Reports suggest that post Brexit in 2016; the UK had estimated visit around 37.3 million, that is, around 3% higher than 2015. Such high number of tourists in 2016 post Brexit is considered to be highest since 1961. The fall in the value of pounds favoured US tourists largely, as the value of pound dropped to three decades low against the dollar after Brexit in June 2016 (Allen, 2017). As a result, the US tourists had to pay much less for hotels and flights. Moreover, the US tourists got more GBP while exchanging dollar against pounds. Furthermore, during the Christmas of 2016 post-Brexit, the visitors from the US, especially North America increased by 15% compared to the same period in the previous year 2015. However, the tourism minister of the UK also needs to emphasize on other factors other than solely relying on decreasing value of the pounds.

Revising air alliance between the UK and the EU

According to reports, Yorkshire in the UK itself received the highest influx in the tourism sector after Brexit. Within three months of Brexit in June 2016, Yorkshire noticed record-breaking visits of around 476,000.  A 12% rise is estimated in the Yorkshire tourism if compared to the number of tourists during the same period in 2015. Reports suggest that 2017 can be another huge year for the UK tourism with increment in the UK flight booking up to 16% compared to the previous year, 2016. The retail industry has also been greatly benefitted due to the increase in the UK tourism industry. Weaker pound value has provided an opportunity for the tourists to utilise their purchasing capacity. The tourists took advantage of the weaker pound value and bought retail stuff such as luxury accessories and clothing. However, the spending done by the visitors failed to cross the records of 2015 (Tourism Alliance the voice of tourism, 2017).

According to the reports of 2009, the UK tourism industry was the fastest growing industry compared to other industries that contributed greatly to the economy of the country, increased the export earnings by 26.5% and generated additional employment as twice as compared to the employment rate of other industries. However, in 2017 it is predicted that the UK tourism industry will grow by another 8% thereby, contributing a further £5.5 billion to the UK economy along with creating an additional 100,000 employments (Smithers, 2017).

Brexit has also greatly affected the employment of the country. As commented by Lee (2014), the tourism industry attracts the workforce, as it offers a wide range of flexible works. Therefore, the tourism sector has employees from the European Union and other international countries. For example, some sector of the tourism industry in the UK is highly dependent on the immigrant labour that is provided by the European Union. Therefore, Brexit has resulted in restricting the number of immigrants in the UK tourism industry. When the rules and regulations of the Brexit will be implemented, the immigrants will require work visa to be legally working in the UK. Therefore, due to Brexit, the tourism industry has generated additional jobs of more than 100,000 to fulfil the job vacancy.

Conclusion    

In this essay, it can be concluded that Brexit has a huge impact on the UK tourism industry, as this has been able to increase the tourism of the country largely due to weakening pound value and giving rise to additional employments for the citizens of the country.

Impact of Brexit on pound value

According to the SWOT analysis conducted, I have analysed my internal strengths and weakness based on which I have identified the potential opportunities and threats respectively. As a degree course student of travel and tourism, communication skills and being creative is of utmost significance. My excellent communication skills, disciplined nature and ability to remain calm in crisis allows taking appropriate and decisions. This is beneficial for me, as this will allow me to handle emergencies without losing control and handle situations accordingly. In travel and tourism industry, being creative and disciplined help in engaging customers thereby, gaining competitive advantage for the organisations. Based on the strength, the potential opportunities for me include the ability to plan and better earning opportunities compared to others. My strengths reflect better talents compared to others in the industry.

On the contrary, my weakness is that I easily get bored thereby, resulting in learning things appropriately. At certain instances, I fail to keep up with the time that leads to stress and impatience nature. Inability to manage stress appropriately thereby hampers the effort that I put for completions of tasks. Based on my weakness, the potential threats include falling behind others, due to which my career would be hampered. My continuous urge of remaining on the top of all my tasks and assignments prohibits me to give my entire effort for that task. At the certain instance, time management has been an issue, as I fail to keep up with time. As a student of travel and tourism, I need to be multilingual, as this will allow me to communicate with people around the world. 

References

ABTA The Travel Association. (2017). What Brexit might mean for UK travel. [online] Available at: https://c0e31a7ad92e875f8eaa-5facf23e658215b1771a91c2df41e9fe.ssl.cf3.rackcdn.com/general/ABTA_BREXIT_online.pdf [Accessed 22 Aug. 2017].

Allen, K. (2017). UK enjoys record tourism as fall in pound boosts visitor numbers. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/feb/17/fall-in-pound-after-brexit-vote-uk-break-overseas-visitors-record-ons-north-american-tourists [Accessed 22 Aug. 2017].

BBC News. (2017). Brexit: All you need to know about the UK leaving the EU – BBC News. [online] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-32810887 [Accessed 22 Aug. 2017].

Blinder, S., 2014. Migration to the UK: Asylum. Retrieved August, 2, p.2015.

Colson, T. (2017). Brexit is set to damage Britain’s tourism industry. [online] Business Insider. Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/wef-tourism-competitiveness-report-brexit-impact-on-uk-tourism-2017-4?IR=T [Accessed 22 Aug. 2017].

Kennell, J. and Chaperon, S., 2013. Analysis of the UK Government’s 2011 tourism policy. Cultural Trends, 22(3-4), pp.278-284.

Lee, N., 2014. The creative industries and urban economic growth in the UK. Environment and Planning A, 46(2), pp.455-470.

Mourlon-Druol, E., 2015. The UK’s EU vote: The 1975 precedent and today’s negotiations (No. 2015/08). Bruegel Policy Contribution.

Smithers, R. (2017). Tourism booms in UK after post-referendum fall in pound. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/oct/11/tourism-booms-in-uk-after-post-referendum-fall-in-pound [Accessed 22 Aug. 2017].

Tourism Alliance the voice of tourism. (2017). TOURISM AFTER BREXIT 2017. [online] Available at: https://www.tourismalliance.com/downloads/TA_394_419.pdf [Accessed 22 Aug. 2017].

Wadsworth, J., Dhingra, S., Ottaviano, G. and Van Reenen, J., 2016. Brexit and the Impact of Immigration on the UK. Centre for Economic Performance. LSE, pp.34-53.

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