ASH UPDATE – Silver lining from dust cloud for UK tourism?
Monday, 21 Apr, 2010
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VisitBritain is hoping for the return to normal flight patterns will ensure inbound travel to the UK is not badly affected.
At the same time the national tourism agency may get a silver lining from the volcanic dust cloud as Britons rethink overseas holiday plans and opt for domestic breaks.
Provided British travellers choose a domestic holiday instead of an outbound trip, then the overall impact could be negligible or even positive for the visitor economy.
Meanwhile, visitors who travel to Britain at the moment contribute an estimated £40 million a day to the UK’s visitor economy.
Inbound visitors spent £16.5 billion in the UK last year and UK transport carriers earned an estimated £2.9 billion in fares paid by visitors from overseas.
Tax revenues from inbound visitors are estimated to generate around £3 billion a year for the Exchequer.
VisitBritain strategy and communications director Patricia Yates said: “It now seems that the ash is subsiding and flight restrictions are starting to ease, so we would hope to see flights returning to normal as soon as possible.
“Typically around 85,000 inbound visitors arrive in Britain a day at this time of year. Around three-in-four would arrive by air – so that’s 22 million by plane in 2009.
“Fortunately the Channel Tunnel and ferry ports are all operating normally. Between them the tunnel and ferry ports accounted for more than one-in-four inbound visits during 2009, that’s nearly eight million visits.
"Recent improvements to Europe’s high speed rail network mean that it is now possible for visitors from the centre of Amsterdam to be in the heart of London in four and a quarter hours. Both the Channel Tunnel and ferry sector would readily put in place additional capacity if disruption to air travel persists.
"For every one inbound visit to Britain in 2009 UK residents took two outbound trips – so with protracted disruption to air travel it is reasonable to assume that many of these outbound trips would be substituted by a holiday here in the UK."
Marcus Simmons, managing director of independent accommodation and tourism directory iknow-uk, said: "I believe that the chaos surrounding the ash cloud, and the resulting issues for people trying to travel abroad, will lead to more people considering a hassle free UK break this summer.
"One thing that is critical for the UK economy is how the UK tourism industry responds to this situation.
"It’s a key booking time for people intending to travel overseas on holiday this summer, and with the latest problems we could see an uplift of 20 per cent or so for the UK tourism industry.
"We’ve got a really amazing coastline and outstanding countryside here, and hoteliers, B&B owners and hospitality businesses need to be quick to respond and attract Brits back home for their summer holidays."
by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
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