Colin D Gordon

At the beginning of this year, the British Press was proclaiming (or in some cases lamenting) ” the invasion of our shores by overseas bargain-hunters”. Some newspapers welcomed this development as a timely boost to an ailing economy. Others were not so convinced. The value of the pound had declined to parity with the euro( in practice less, after deduction of exchange bureaux commission). Anyone not wishing to be crushed by the stampeding hordes intent on “shopping till they dropped” or deafened by the cacophony of French, Spanish, Italian and Polish would (so it was implied ) be ill-advised to venture into the Oxford Street area. According to one Maltese couple, the prices they were paying were “almost ridiculous”. They had brought with them two empty suitcases to fill with their purchases. There was a 15% rise in Eurostar passengers from Brussels and Paris. Bookings on flights from Spain (plus hotel reservations) had leapt 80%. Three pages in one edition of Barcelona’s ‘La Vanguardia’ extolled the benefits of travelling to London.

Yet amidst all this furore,’VisitBritain’ released statistics which appeared to indicate that the upturn was misleading and wouldn’t be maintained. Their forecast was that tourism from abroad would fall by 2.7 % to 31.9 million in 2009 (though spending would rise by 2.5% to £16.4 billion) due to the global economic downturn , stricter UK Government entry requirements for non EU-nationals and higher visa charges. This was followed by an ‘International Passenger Survey’ in mid-February which concluded that Britain had “not yet seen the predicted increase in visitors’. Although there are more Italians (up by 18%) and French (5%), US and Japanese numbers have dropped by a third and Germans by 11%. The Spanish also are now being deterred by their own severe recession. In April, therefore,’VisitBritain launched a £6.5 million “Britain For Less”campaign aimed mainly at the Eurozone, North American and Asia Pacific markets. The ‘budget airline’ Easyjet has agreed to participate by offering low fare incoming flights from fourteen European countries and British Airways from another four. ‘VisitBritain’ Chairman Christopher Rodrigues recently told Reuters news agency that “This is a great opportunity to merchandize Britain” but also that the country’s arts, culture, sport, heritage and countryside are all at stake. His counterpart at the Tourism Alliance, Bob Cotton has similarly been talking up the UK as a “value destination”.

These comments suggest some anxiety at the 20% decline in Britain’s share of global tourism receipts. Although the industry contributes £85 billion pa.to the UK economy (6.4% of GDP) and provides 2.2 million jobs (7.7% of the country’s total workforce),only £15 billion of this is in the form of foreign exchange earnings. Most of its income is thus dependent on ‘domestic spending’ and the growing proportion of Britons who- due to the downturn- are opting to take breaks at home instead of holidaying abroad. The concerted effort now being undertaken to entice in far more overseas visitors is a direct consequence of this disparity. VisitBritain especially – through its website www.britainforless.comb plus traditional marketing devices such as trade fairs and media advertising – is emphasizing the wide range of available low-cost deals and attractions. Foreign tourists can obtain a VisitBritain-branded SIM card which will enable them to avoid roaming charges when phoning home “to tell family & friends how much they are enjoying their British holiday and how affordable it is”. They can travel on BritRail and EasyBus at discounted rates. The Association of Independent Festivals is providing a 20% reduction on this summer’s major music festivals such as ‘Bestival’ (Isle of Wight),the ‘Big Chill’ (Herefordshire) and ‘Creamfields’  (Liverpool). They can furthermore access for free via their mobile phones a VisitBritain application: mobiEXPLORE UK which allows them to view street maps, the London Underground network, local ‘what’s-on’ guides plus lists of pubs, restaurants and inexpensive accommodation.

Several of the major hotel chains have got involved in this concerted undertaking: ‘Jury Inns’ are offering rooms for £29 per person per night and the InterContinental Hotels Group (IMG) for £39 at some of its Crown Plaza and Holiday Inn locations. The ‘MyGuideBritain’ company is tempting foreign visitors with an “Easy-to-plan self-drive ‘Go As You Please’ pre-booked Bed & Breakfast e-voucher scheme”. Anyone signing up with them will ,they indicate, have access to 1,500 different lodging options ” ranging from town, suburban and rural guest houses to country cottages” at manageable rates. Meanwhile, a ‘Best Of Britain & Ireland 2009′ survey has placed the London Eye at the top of its ‘Ten British Tourist Hotspots” rankings, followed by The Lake District and Cumbria, Blackpool Tower, Sherwood Forest & Robin Hood Country, Giant’s Causway (County Antrim), Liverpool Docks & City, Brighton, Alton Towers Theme Park, The Yorkshire Dales and the Norfolk Broads & surrounds. Oxford, Cambridge and Stratford-Upon-Avon don’t feature in this list, perhaps because it is assumed that overseas visitors will automatically include these on their itinerary once they’ve completed their obligatory tour of the capital.

Fortunately for the UK tourism sector, a significant number of British holidaymakers have become (albeit temporarily) ‘Staycationers’ as a direct result of the economic recession. Even though Spanish hoteliers have attempted to counter this (for them) alarming trend by lowering their prices and encouraging their staff to be “less grumpy”, the Canary Islands were 15% down on visitors from the UK during the winter months and the Costa del Sol even worse at 17%. Greece ( 120,00 fewer in 2008), the Czech Republic, Latvia, Estonia and Iceland have all been hit as well. Other factors have had an impact: The economy airlines are not so cheap anymore, especially during peak periods. Ryanair’s image in particular has been dented by the £40 levy for checked-in baggage, the £3 supplement for ‘priority boarding’, the proposed in-flight £1 toilet fee and alleged discrimination against handicapped passengers. Although the pound is beginning to recover against the euro ( at the time of writing: 1.14) and an estimated 1.8 million Britons went abroad for the Whitsun Bank Holiday, reservations for 2009 at seaside towns such as Scarborough and Great Yarmouth are 10% up on last year. Spain’s loss is clearly their gain.

As an additional signs of the times, bookings with self-catering operator Hoseasons have surged 15% .The revived holiday camp sector is worth £1.3bn and catered for 6.4 million visitors in 2008. Butlins’ sales at its Minehead, Skegness and Bognor Regis resorts (as they are now called) have also soared by 15%. The Camping & Caravanning Club (1,400 sites) have reported a 10% improvement in business. Likewise Pontins, who in anticipation of a further 20% growth this year plan to create 2,000 new jobs and invest £50 million in upgrading their ‘vacation parks’. Caravans & ‘motorised homes’ are back in vogue with people who want to locate close to popular seaside venues such as Blackpool (but not pay for hotels) or explore “off-the-beaten-track” destinations – to view, for example, Scottish mountain scenery or lochs not accessible by public transport.

The one slight blot on this apparently rosy domestic landscape has emerged from a survey of 4,000 adults conducted by Legal & General Insurance and published by the Daily Mail. It concluded that 20% of interviewees wouldn’t go away at all and another 21% planned to stay with friends or relatives. On a more positive side, Mintel / British Lifestyle research has revealed that although 70% of consumers have reduced their expenditure on DIY, eating out , clothing and travel, they have not forsaken more intellectual pursuits: 50% now attend the theatre, compared to just 36% at the turn of the century.

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