There was a lot of talk in the run up and during the final days of the vote about how the EU referendum would affect a number of industries in the United Kingdom, with many predicting that the travel industry would be one of the most heavily hit.
But what has the effect actually been? Two months since the vote the repercussions don’t seem to have been as catastrophic as originally predicted.
Glen Renton, Director of York based Golf travel specialists Glencor Golf Holidays confirms this, although he states that the initial short term effects were clear: “Shortly before and after the Brexit referendum we saw a drop in the number of bookings despite the number of enquiries from consumers still being strong.”
This drop in bookings was mirrored across the travel industry as a whole as many consumers were unsettled by the instability of the pound. Not only did this lead to a weak exchange rate, the financial uncertainty caused many to re-evaluate their finances and ‘tightened the belt’ on non-essential spending on such things as leisure travel.
Glen goes on to say, however, “Due to the nature of our golf holiday sales predominantly being group bookings, we’ve seen group leaders extend the lead time from enquiry to booking to evaluate the currency exchange rate. However August has seen those enquiries that were on hold now turn into bookings, suggesting consumer confidence is still fairly positive.”
In line with Glen Renton’s positive findings, this week economists have hiked forecasts for the UK, with new predictions showing the economy growing by 1.6pc in 2017 and 0.7pc respectively according to Treasury.
This shows a growing confidence in the British economy, a far cry from the dire foreshadowing of the then-chancellor George Osborne.
Some see these predictions to be a good step toward calming any fears of a long period of financial uncertainty, meaning that the travel industry might not be as badly affected as was originally feared.
Glencor Golf Holidays www.glencorgolf.com/