The latest data released by the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that—despite a weak pound sterling and the combination of doubt and uncertainty as to what would happen following the June 23, 2016 “Brexit” vote in which Britons voted to leave the European Union—outbound traffic to North America in 2016 increased over 2015, although at a slightly slower annual rate than in recent years. In fact, the increase in outbound British travel to North America last closed out last year with a total that was 20 percent greater than it was in 2013.
The full-year numbers for 2016 just released by ONS indicate that departures for North America (about 90 percent of traffic to North America goes to the USA) increased by 4.3 percent over 2015—down from a 6.4 percent year-on-year increase in 2015 and an 8.5 percent year-on-year increase in 2014.
But rather than cherry pick data bytes, and to put the latest ONS information in perspective, we’ve entered it into the following four-year table below.
