Ireland Is Blaming Currency Issues For Decline in UK Visitors Post-Brexit
Skift Take
UK travelers, along with travelers from many other countries, are facing a lot of uncertainty these days about the value of their currencies. It will take more than a few famous filming locations to convince UK and other travelers to visit a place like Ireland.
Ireland is touting double-digit increases in visitor arrivals from the U.S. and Canada for the first six months of 2017, citing the mass appeal of the country's filming locations for the popular HBO series "Game of Thrones" and movies such as "Star Wars Episode XII: The Force Awakens," for example.
But last year's Brexit vote, a drama unfolding in the UK, in 2017 is hurting Ireland's UK arrivals — Ireland's largest, and one of its most lucrative, visitor markets.
UK arrivals in Ireland are down 6.4 percent year-over-year for January to June, according to data from Tourism Ireland, the country's destination marketing organization.
Tourism Ireland said in a statement that it anticipated a UK visitor decline this year because of currency challenges from Brexit.
The value of the UK pound against the Euro has also fallen more than 20 percent in the 13 months since the June 2016 Brexit vote.
UK visits had been up nearly 16 percent for the first six months of 2016 compared to the same period in 2015. While there could be multiple factors influencing UK travelers to b
