Brexit Not Impacting UK Travel: Canadian Operators
Given fears that inbound travel to Britain would be affected by the uncertain Brexit negotiations, Visit Britain has generated statistics that explore the question more methodically.
The results of that survey were delivered during the recent ExploreGB conference and trade show in the small, picturesque city of Harrogate, in North Yorkshire, England. The numbers were gathered from fall 2018 to March 2019, and they indicated varying degrees of trepidation regarding Brexit by respondents around from the world.
The primary markets – those in nearby Europe – got a lion’s share of the focus. An average of 44% of European respondents from Germany, France, Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Spain and Sweden reported that they were “concerned about the uncertainly around travel arrangements to Britain, due to ongoing Brexit negotiations.” But just an average of 8% reported that they were very concerned.
The survey results from the US indicated less worry than those generated in Europe. Of the respondents in America, 37% said that they were not very concerned, while just 26% reported that they were fairly concerned. Only 9% said they were very concerned.
Canada was not named in the survey, but anecdotally there has been no issue with holiday travel from Canada to Great Britain, said some Canadian tour operators who were in attendance at the ExploreGB.
In fact, bookings trends to date have indicated a bullish outlook by Canadian vacation buyers to Britain.
“There has been no effect on Canadian tourists travelling to the UK,” said Ian Cowan, CEO at Connection Custom Travel. His message to agents is to tell their clients that Brexit will have no impact on their travels. Brexit is being used as an excuse for delaying trips there, but this is not a valid reason, he said.
For instance, the value of the currency has remained consistent, at a value of about $1.75 to $1.80, which helps instill confidence in the stability in the country, he said. Recent Brexit developments have pushed the pound down closer to $1.70, which is good news for Canadians who are preparing their budgets for a trip to Britain.
But regardless of currency fluctuations, demand for travel to the UK has remained strong, and little hesitancy has been indicated, said the tour operators.
“About 88% of our summer business is already in the books,” said Craig Canvin, VP for the UK and Europe at Goway. Helping to confirm a steady growth in bookings is the fact that the sales staff in the UK/Europe department at Goway has tripled in the past two years.
Jonathan Sargeant, sales manager for Canada at Royal Irish Tours, had a similar story. He noted that UK bookings had also shown strong growth over the past two years, which has gone hand-in-hand with a doubling of sales staff over the same period of time.
ExploreGB took place over three days in early May in Harrogate in the county North Yorkshire. More than 250 international travel buyers from 31 countries came to do business with over 320 tourism suppliers at the Harrogate Convention Centre.
Pictured, Canadian tour operators attending ExploreGB took part in a pre-trade show tour that travelled through Devon and Cornwall. Amongst them were (l-r) Elena Prountzopoulos of Atourz, Karen Burwood of DHTours, Lindsay Marcaccio of Ellison Travel and Tours, and Ian Cowan of Connection Tours.
