London Lays out a Strategy for Smart Tourism Growth Amid Brexit Concerns
Skift Take
London is quick to paint a bright future for its tourism industry in the face of Brexit, but it also needs to accept that visitors won't be happy with their experiences if the city loses its EU tourism workforce and that causes problems ranging from longer wait times to lagging infrastructure investment.
With negotiations underway some 14 months after the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, the mayor of London and London & Partners, the city's tourism board, are releasing a plan they feel will keep the city competitive and help it weather the uncertainty that Brexit is causing across Europe.
London & Partners launched its first Tourism Vision For London report last week, which outlines how the city plans to manage tourism growth and win back international market share from other European cities.
Top of mind is London's future ability to recruit tourism workers from outside the UK depending on the result of Brexit talks — and how the city can support millions of more visitors per year through the next decade.
The city projects it will have more than 40 million overnight visitors by 2025, a 30 percent increase from the 31.2 million overnight visitors last year.
But London – which had nearly 60 percent of its residents vote to remain in the EU in the June 2016 referendum – will need an adequate tourism workforce to accomplish its growth goals as Brexit threatens to stymie working visas for workers from EU member countries. The city currently has about 700,000 workers employed in its travel industry, and EU workers from outside the UK make up about 25 percent of th
