Interview: VisitBritain Chairman Steers Tourism Boom Through Brexit Uncertainties
Photo Credit: Revelers at London's 2016 Pride parade. The UK has experienced strong travel and tourism growth since the Brexit referendum. Flickr / Chris Beckett
Skift Take
Tourism, along with business travel, is on the rise again in the UK due to a weak British pound and cheap flights. VisitBritain is trying to make the most of it despite the lingering ramifications of the political mess that is Brexit.
It's been a rough 18 months for the UK government and economy following the Brexit vote in June 2016. Travel, however, has been a bright spot for the country despite the uncertain political climate.
August represented the strongest month ever for visitor spending across the UK, and the surge in travel shows no signs of slowing. The drop in currency value after Brexit has made the UK an affordable destination once again. There have been headwinds, however, namely an uptick in terrorism across the country in 2017.
Steve Ridgway, chairman of VisitBritain, thinks his organization needs to do more to ensure that travel is perceived as a power player among UK industries. He's worked to push travel and tourism into the political spotlight with a white paper detailing the creation of new "tourism zones" to capture increased demand.
Skift spoke to Ridgway about navigating the uncertainty of the Brexit negotiations and marketing the variety of travel offerings across the UK.
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