Brexit impacts on British tourism

The paper examines current debates on the impacts of Brexit on tourism in Britain. Brexit is a source of much concern and anxiety for British government, industry and tourists alike. The paper outlines and analyses some of the major impacts expected from the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union on the British inbound, outbound and domestic tourism. The methodology used is content analysis of secondary data in the form of government and industry surveys and reports and media articles on the expected and projected short and long-term impacts of Brexit. Results argue that although reducing EU-based regulations could have some positive implications for the British tourism industry, major areas of concern exit. Reduced access to EU programmes and funding is likely to impact domestic tourism heavily and limit participation and collaboration in international projects. Withdrawal of the UK from EU travel agreements is expected to have major consequences especially in terms of freedom of movement and security. As UK British hospitality and catering industries employ a considerable amount of EU nationals, a potential staff shortage is likely to impact service quality. Britain’s tourism destination image is also likely to be negatively impacted requiring increased marketing efforts.