NEWS INSIGHT
SPORT KICK-STARTS UK’S LONG-HAUL BOOST Edward Robertson
The Cricket World Cup 2019, strengthening economies and historical ties have driven a slew of visitors to the UK from long- haul markets, new research from airlift analytics firm ForwardKeys reveals. Olivier Ponti (inset), vice-president
insights at ForwardKeys, said India drove a 14.5% year-on-year increase in visitors to the UK from October 2018 to September 2019. This made the Indian subcontinent the third biggest contributor in visitor numbers to the UK outside of Europe and other Mediterranean source markets. Ponti said this was
down to a number of reasons, adding: “What is interesting in
India this year is it is a great example of the impact of events, as there was a surge of arrivals from India for the World Cup. “When you compare [cricket] World
Cup countries with non-World Cup countries, we see a clear difference.” He added the global tournament also
coincided with a trend that saw Indians increase the length of time they are staying in the UK, with around a quarter of visitors staying 22 nights or more – a year-on-year increase of 10.5%.
African uplift Elsewhere, Ponti cited the example of Nigeria which reversed the previous year’s fall by two places to take the 10th spot after seeing a 13.7% rise in passenger numbers as the country’s economy improved. He said: “In Nigeria [which produces oil], the lower oil prices were fatal to the country’s economy. Now, [oil] prices are going up and things are getting better.” He added the country has also
benefited from the growth of traffic from outside capital Lagos, which was ranked 18th following growth of 11.4%. It received a further boost from Abuja,
INCREASE IN ARRIVALS TO THE UK FROM TOP 10 DESTINATIONS OUTSIDE EUROPE* AND THE MEDITERRANEAN 19.8%
10 15 20
-5 0 5
14.5% 9.5% 7.4% 1.9% -0.1% -2.1% 13.8% 11.3% 13.7%
which made the 48th spot in the list of top 50 cities supplying traffic to the UK following a year-on-year rise of 21.2%. Ponti added the need for a strong
economy to drive long-haul can be seen by the fact that every G20 country outside of the short-haul market features in the top 30 list of destinations with the busiest long-haul connections to the UK.
Strong relationships He said Commonwealth countries also have strong representation in the list, adding: “It is really about the countries with strong cultural ties to the UK. Elsewhere, he added countries where the currency had appreciated compared with the pound were also seeing good growth in visitor numbers. Ponti said this was visible in the US, which held on to the top spot for visitor
numbers to the UK following year- on-year growth of 9.5% over the same period thanks to a strengthening dollar. However, he added other conditions
are needed if a market is to drive quite such strong growth. “Currency is a part of the story,” Ponti said. “But it is easier than ever [to fly to the UK] as there has been a significant increase in seat capacity.” Meanwhile, a 19.8% growth in traffic from China had been driven by increased connectivity to the UK from the country’s secondary cities, although Shanghai and Beijing remain the key source markets, having grown by 12.8% and 17.2% respectively.
Ponti will present the results in full Monday at 10:30 in the Press Conference Theatre – International Media Centre
*UNWTO definition. Figures show year-on-year growth from 2018-2019
04.11.2019 WTM OFFICIAL EVENT DAILY
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US
Australia India China Canada
Hong Kong Japan
South Korea South Africa Nigeria
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