In last week’s issue of the Inbound Report, we cited what was the consensus opinion among trade journal editorialists and tour and travel industry experts on the impact of the June 23 vote by citizens of Britain to withdraw from the European Union. The only commonly cited and readily available figure that played into the discussion was the value of the British pound sterling, which dropped by 10 percent against the U.S. dollar in the first week following the vote, but has held steady since then.
But now, thanks to Orlando-based Tourico Holidays and its founder and CEO, Uri Argov, we have some numbers on key tour and travel industry metrics and how they changed among UK travel consumers from the week of the Brexit vote to the final full week of August—eight weeks later. According to Argov, Tourico’s data showed or suggested the following:
—While top lines, bookings and room-nights are substantially up the transaction size, ADR and average stay are the same.
—Lead Time and number of passengers per transaction are slightly higher. These show a certain level of optimism in the future.
—The number of searches is much higher. This usually happens after a major event as potential travelers want to see the impact if any.
—Conversion is lower–this is probably the real number to look at for the coming year: i.e., come 2017, we will most likely see a decline in ability to convert interest in travel due to currency impact and personal uncertainty (the average UK consumer doesn’t know why he was voting right or left but now he needs to deal with the outcome while still having no clue).
