GlobalData research find Brexit not deterring UK outbound travellers

Despite the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, a new report by GlobalData, a data and analytics company, has revealed UK departures to Europe are set to grow 2.88 per cent in 2019.

In 2018, 55.9 million UK residents travelled to European destinations. However, GlobalData expects this number to increase to 64.4 million in 2019.

The report, “Tourism Source Market Insight: United Kingdom” also identified that Spain and Eastern European nations will continue to see growth as travellers seek sunshine and city breaks with a smaller price tag.

Laura Beaton, travel and tourism analyst at GlobalData, said: “Of course Brexit has impacted the UK’s outbound tourism industry but the reality is not likely to be as bad as we might have been led to believe, at least in terms of visitor numbers.”

The UK’s longstanding relationship with Spain is not set to be affected by a Brexit deal or no-deal either. In 2017 the then Spanish deputy minister for European affairs, Jorge Toledo, stated that Spain would have a backup plan to shield the country’s tourism industry from Brexit consequences.

“Tourism from the UK is an important part of many European countries’ economies and Spain, France, and Italy are going to remain the top destinations for UK travellers for the foreseeable future so it is important that ties are not severed,” added Beaton.

The report also identified destinations such as Hungary, Czech Republic and Romania as places UK travellers would be increasingly travelling to in the future. This is partly because their currencies currently remain weaker than the pound and untapped natural beauty, history and culture is also enticing travellers to visit these countries.

“The depreciation of the pound has had a big impact on expenditure, however, and travellers have had to spend more to match the same experiences they had a few years ago. As a result, cheaper locations are highly sought after by UK travellers.”

“Western Europe is only truly becoming aware of the other offerings of Eastern Europe and this helps to explain how each country has rapidly grown its UK visitor numbers in recent years,” said Beaton.

“Vilnius in Lithuania is a UNESCO World Heritage site and Budapest has many buildings that have won European Heritage Awards so Eastern Europe has plenty to entice travellers away from the traditional city breaks of Paris and Rome.”