The UK authorities has been accused of “sabotaging” the nation’s tourism trade as evaluation discovered spending by worldwide guests was greater than 2.2 billion kilos (US$2.9 billion) under pre-pandemic ranges final 12 months.
A report by the London-based World Journey and Tourism Council (WTTC), which represents the sector, discovered individuals visiting the UK spent 40.3 billion kilos in 2024, down 5.3 per cent from 2019.
Julia Simpson, president of the WTTC and an adviser to Tony Blair throughout his time as prime minister, attributed the decline to measures she described as “deliberate coverage decisions” which have created “obstacles to journey”.
These embrace introducing digital journey authorisations – digital permits – the shortage of tax-free purchasing and rising air passenger obligation.
Simpson advised the PA information company: “We’ve not acquired again to the place we have to be [on spending by international visitors], whereas the remainder of the world has,” including that the UK was shedding worth share in comparison with different European companions.
“This authorities is all about development. They’re easy methods to generate profits. They’re attempting to avoid wasting metal vegetation. They’re trying to see what can we do about our water firms,” Simpson mentioned.
“But right here now we have a personal sector enterprise – journey and tourism – contributing 10 per cent of UK GDP, creating jobs, however we aren’t prioritising it in any method,” she added.
