UK Tourism Boom As GBP Goes On Holiday
We looked up the word ‘mess’ in the dictionary the other day, you won’t believe what we found.
Mess (Noun)
- a situation that is confused and full of problems, e.g Brexit.
Okay, we may have made that up, but you get the point! What a hullabaloo the whole affair has been, from start to finish. With no real finish line in sight, and a load of potential wobblies yet to occur, there promises to be even more twists and turns as the weeks go by and the countdown to that oh-so-ironic Halloween due date ticks away.
In the mood for some funny Brexit tweets? Check this out.
Uncertainty abounds, but what if we told you that Brexit was causing quite a positive stir in one sector of the UK market? Well, strap yourself in, hold onto your hats and take a deep breath because (drumroll)… it appears that that’s exactly what’s going on. The latest figures released by travel firm ForwardKeys, have shown that the number of tourists visiting the UK from the far east — most notably China — has risen by almost a fifth this summer. It also stated that flight bookings from long-haul markets were also 6% higher than in the same period last year. Wow!
So, with all this uncertainty around, what’s going on?
Why is everyone so bonkers about Blighty?
As my physics teacher always said, “everything happens for a reason”. How right you were, Mr. White. There is, of course, a very good explanation for the sudden influx of our far-eastern friends — the pound has taken a major pounding of late, this week hitting a 31-month low against the dollar, amid the increasing likelihood that the UK could leave the EU without a deal. Which is why this is all a bit of an issue for Boris and his buddies in the UK’s new government. If you listen carefully, you may even be able to hear them shouting: “Yay!” for extra tourism, but a hugely, massive, “oh-my-goodness, no!” for the dropping value of the pound. Not good. #Mess.
The decline in value of the pound means a relative increase in spending power for large numbers of clever people who can obviously sniff a bargain, and it’s not just the Chinese who are doing so. The number of Indian tourists was ahead of this time last year by 20%, with Japan at 10% and the USA at 5%.
Interestingly, the latest ONS tourism stats found that European tourists aren’t feeling as much love for Britain right now (quite understandably!), with visits from Europe to the UK fairly relatively stagnant between January to March this year. Oops.
What is clearer than ever is that Brexit will continue to raise questions of the UK economy at large, GBP and the subsequent impact of such factors on the wider world stage, and what will happen exactly will remain entirely unclear until it’s all over — and when that will precisely be is, well, also entirely unclear. Is that clear to you? Nope, us neither.
Other important things this week…
Some noteworthiness for your trading diary this week:
Monday
The US’ ISM Non-Manufacturing Index figures will be released today, as well as the UK’s service and composite PMIs — all good indicators of economic health. Japan
Wednesday
Japan will announce its GDP figures for Q2. A higher than expected reading — such as last quarter — will no doubt reflect bullishly for the JPY.
Friday
A bumper day for GBP/USD traders with the UK’s Q2 GDP figures set to be announced, as well as the US releasing its Producer Price Index (PPI). Hold onto your hats, Cable traders!
The world is so serious and scary, isn’t it? Important trading information is being lost so easily, as a result. As you can probably tell, at Contentworks we like to take a different approach. Are your customers crying out for a light-hearted, factual and impartial 10 minute read? How about daily analysis that matches your popular pairs or commodities. Let’s talk content.
The Contentworks Team
