The Brits Love To Travel
The Brits love to travel!
So much so that the UK’s share of worldwide seating capacity on international flights last year was 6.8%. Not bad for a population of some 67 million and exactly the same share enjoyed by the United States with almost five times as many residents.
But that’s not all.
Relatively tiny Britain is a major contributor to the global travel economy, ranking number four among the world’s top tourism spenders last year.
Fellow European Union countries are the main destinations of choice for British holidaymakers, with Spain leading the way by a large margin but that could change radically if the UK exits the EU with no deal negotiated.
And it could spell an incoming Brit bonanza for longer haul destinations around the world. According to new research unveiled at World Travel Market in London, as of early October, forward air bookings from the UK to the EU for the 2019 summer season were running head 5.7%; the same rate as one year ago.
But, while UK bookings to destinations beyond the EU for the April-September period were up only 4.3% by the beginning of October 2017, this year theyre booming ahead at 28.5%.
The data was gathered by ForwardKeys, which analyses more than 17 million flight booking transactions a day, drawing information from all the major global reservations systems as well as selected airlines and tour operators.
For the full story, check out this week’s digital edition of Canadian Travel Press.
