Collapse in international visitors set to hit fifty towns and cities by up to £18 billion
Today, the All Party-Parliamentary Group for the Future of Aviation has released projections that show that the collapse in international visitors risks costing the Top 50 towns and cities visited by inbound tourists up to £18bn this year.
Projections produced by Visit Britain show that the number of international visitors is expected to fall overall by 71%, with European tourists expected to be only 34% and non-European tourists expected to be just 18% of 2019 levels. This will see international visitor spend fall by 77%.
Projections from the APPG for the Future of Aviation show that this loss will be felt most sharply London which is set to lose at least £12bn.
However, the losses will also be sharply felt outside of London with:
Edinburgh set to lose £917 million
Manchester set to lose £551 million
Birmingham set to lose £280 million
Glasgow set to lose £293 million
Newcastle set to lose £170m
Cardiff set to lose £160m
These projections are likely to be bleaker if long haul routes outside of Europe do not restart alongside short haul destinations, with North American visitors alone spending £4billion in in 2019, with non-European visitor spending accounting for 59% of all international visitor spend.
Commenting Henry Smith MP, Chair of the APPG for the Future of Aviation said:
“These figures highlight how vital inbound tourism will be to ensuring that our towns and cities recover from the devastating impacts of the pandemic and the significant financial pressures faced by businesses who are responsible for bringing the millions of international visitors to the UK.
“International visitors spend on average £696 per trip boosting our shops, hotels and attractions, many of whom remain in a battle for survival. It is therefore crucial that the Global Travel Taskforce includes inbound tourism in its recovery plan, but also ensures that key long-haul markets such as the USA are reopened as soon as is safe and practical to do so.
“In 2019, over 40 million international visitors came to the UK contributing around £30billion to our local and national economies and it is exceptionally worrying that those businesses responsible for bringing these tourists to the UK have fallen through gaps in financial support. The Government must urgently ensure that tour operators and other tourism businesses receive the full support they need.
“We cannot have a truly global Britain without the long-haul connectivity provided by airlines and airports, and it is essential for the recovery of the UK as a whole that these routes are reopened as soon as practical to do so.”
This was published by the Daily Telegraph here - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/03/18/fifty-towns-cities-set-lose-18-billion-quarantine-slashes-income/