UK Tourism Has a Europe Problem: Decline in Visitors From the Continent
Photo Credit: Landside at Stansted Airport. A no-deal Brexit could lead to long queues. Stansted Airport
Skift Take
The UK might have seen a fall in tourists in 2018, but that has a lot to do with the extraordinary growth the year before. The longer-term trend is for steady growth as long as Brexit doesn't get in the way.
The UK was one of the few poor-performing destinations the United Nations World Tourism Organization chose to single out in what was another bumper year for international tourism.
Global international arrivals hit 1.4 billion in 2018, two years ahead of forecasts – although the UNWTO’s definition of tourism is incredibly broad, and includes those people visiting friends and relatives as well as educational travel.
The Middle East and Africa were the star performers in the organization's report, up 10 percent and 7 percent respectively. Asia-Pacific and Europe both rose 6 percent.
As always there were some fallers. Central America and the Caribbean saw numbers decline 2 percent, and Northern Europe was flat due to the weakness of arrivals
