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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 .