Brexit could cost the UK’s tourism industry as much as £4.1billion a year according to new research.
A survey has revealed that a third of Italian, Spanish and German travellers would be less likely to travel to the UK if it was no longer a member of the EU. Similarly, a quarter of French travellers would be put off visiting the UK.
Their sentiments are also echoed across the pond in the USA and Canada.
Much of this is down to cost according to Travelzoo, who surveyed 8,000 of its members in the UK, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, the US and Canada.
An analysis of the results conducted with Bournemouth University revealed that four in 10 people in continental Europe are worried that a holiday in the UK will cost them more post-Brexit.
Similarly, almost a third of UK travellers are worried that the prices of European holidays would increase following Brexit.
Cost of holiday insurance
These worries stem from concerns over the cost of holiday insurance and data roaming charges.
The majority of respondents from continental Europe, at just under 70 per cent, expressed that the UK should remain within the EU.
But around 40 per cent of respondents from Spain and France thought that it would be fair to impose higher fees such as city tax on British visitors if the UK does leave the EU.
Although for Brexit supporters, this might not be a problem – 61 per cent in the leave camp say that they would be willing to pay more for their holidays.
There’s support from the continent too.
Respondents from France believe that leaving the EU would actually make the UK a safer holiday destination.
Beaches more polluted
They may want to avoid the beaches when visiting the UK, however – UK consumers expressed that they are concerned once the country is no longer governed by EU regulations, the beaches in the UK will become more polluted.
Joel Brandon-Bravo, UK Managing Director of Travelzoo, said: ‘Our neighbours in Europe clearly don’t want the UK to leave the EU, and the impact of this sentiment could translate into a significant drop in bookings to the UK from the largest European countries.
‘When combined with a potential loss of more than 10 per cent of visitors from North America, as indicated in our research, it’s clear that Brexit could be very bad news for the UK’s domestic tourism industry.
Similarly, UK consumers looking to travel abroad also have concerns about Brexit impacting the outbound tourism industry.
John Fletcher, Pro Vice Chancellor at Bournemouth University said: ‘Although the impact of Brexit on tourism is a difficult one to predict, given that France, Germany, Italy and Spain make up four of the UK’s top seven tourist-supplying countries – accounting for more than 11 million international visitors annually – it’s likely that the net result of Brexit will be significantly negative for the UK economy.
‘While the figures above reflect only the direct tourism-related economic impacts of voting to leave the EU, if tourist spending from overseas visitors did indeed fall by £4.1billion per year, this is likely to reduce HMRC revenue by more than £1.1billion and reduce support for around 63,000 jobs in the UK.
‘Even though a UK exit would take some time to complete, especially as renegotiating our revised status with Europe could take five to seven years from start to completion, there will be immediate effects created by this uncertainty.’
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