NEWS ROUND-UP NEWS IN BRIEF
Thomas Cook shifts head office within Peterborough Thomas Cook has moved its head office to new premises within Peterborough. The retailer said the move from the Bretton area of the city to West Point at Lynch Wood Business Park reflected “the significant investment” it is making for its 1,200 head-office employees. Thomas Cook was based in Bretton for 20 years. The company is reviewing options for the Bretton premises, which it owns.
Ryanair to retain base at Pescara after tax hike U-turn
Ryanair reversed a decision to close its base at Pescara and announced plans for “record growth” in Italy after the Italian government revoked plans for an increase in tax of €2.50 per passenger.
Elegant Hotels opens seventh resort in Barbados
Barbados-based Elegant Hotels has opened its seventh luxury property on the island. The 70-room Waves Hotel & Spa, acquired for $18 million, has been “extensively redesigned and refurbished into an eco-chic boutique resort”. The hotel group, which listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market last year, accounts for 29% of Barbados’s four and five-star rooms.
Ferries carry 2.9% more cars on ex-UK routes in July
Ferry industry body Discover Ferries reported a 2.9% year-on- year rise in the number of cars on UK-departing ferries to the Continent in July to 540,000, and a 2.6% rise to 4.84 million for total car carryings for the year to date. Car numbers in July were up by 2.1% on Dover routes to Calais and Dunkirk, by 1.9% on routes to Holland and Belgium, and by 5.1% on services from Newhaven, Portsmouth, Poole and Plymouth to France and Spain.
BUSINESS: “Sites like Airbnb involve professional landlords operating outside UK rules on an industrial scale” Ufi Ibrahim, back page
UK tourism ‘to grow 3.6% despite drop in outbound’
Ian Taylor
ian.taylor@travelweekly.co.uk
UK growth in travel and tourism should outpace global growth in the industry this year despite the fall in the value of the pound since June, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).
However, the WTTC suggests UK
outbound departures could fall 3% this year on last as a consequence of the weaker pound. The WTTC’s updated Economic Impact Report, published on Monday and based on Oxford Economics forecasts, predicts revenue across the UK inbound, outbound and domestic sectors should grow 3.6% this year despite “a projected drop in UK outbound holidays of 3%” by the year end. It suggests the decline in
outbound holidays should “be offset by higher spending by international visitors as a result of the favourable exchange rate”. The WTTC’s global forecast is also positive despite slower economic growth than previously forecast. It predicts global travel and tourism growth of 3.1% this
WTTC lowers forecasts for France and Turkey but tips Asia growth
The travel and tourism outlook for some countries has deteriorated sharply since the World Travel & Tourism Council’s previous forecast in March. Growth in France is expected to be just 1.1% following the recent terrorist atrocity in Nice, down from a previous forecast of 2.9%. Turkey suffered an even sharper
10
travelweekly.co.uk 25 August 2016 SCOWSILL: ‘It will be a long haul back for sterling against the dollar’
year compared with world GDP growth of 2.3%. WTTC president and chief
executive David Scowsill said: “On a global level the economy is slowing, but travel and tourism is consistently growing almost 1% faster than the world economy. “Our industry is pretty robust.
Travel and tourism is growing despite all the shocks to the system. The industry is in a good place despite all the [terror] attacks.” The report predicts UK industry
growth should continue “to hold up well” in 2017, but forecasts the UK sector will grow more slowly than previously forecast in 2018-20 as “the boost from
downgrade, with GDP now forecast to contract by 3.2% this year compared with an earlier forecast of -0.2%. The sector is also expected to shrink in Brazil, host of the Olympic Games, with a contraction of -1.6%. Yet the WTTC foresees growth
in travel and tourism’s direct contribution to the economy everywhere in the world bar Latin America, which will see decline of 0.9%. It forecasts growth of 5.9% in south Asia, 4.7% in northeast Asia and 4% in southeast Asia,
stimulated by China growing 6.3%. North America will perform well, with forecast growth of 3.1%. Europe will be challenged by
lower visitor spending, but will still grow 2.2%.
weaker sterling wears off and general economic growth is weaker than forecast earlier”. At the same time, Oxford
Economics foresees little prospect of short or medium-term recovery in the pound’s value, forecasting a sterling exchange rate of $1.28 and €1.21 for summer 2017. Scowsill warned: “Potentially, it
will be a long haul back for sterling against the dollar.” He identified the key issues
over Britain’s exit from the EU as “trade, open skies and freedom of movement”, and said: “Until these issues are worked out it’s very difficult to speculate [on the impact].”
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