What: Visa examines the consequences of Brexit on intra-European travel once the Covid-19 restrictions are lifted.

Why it is important: While Europe is a privileged destination for UK citizens, the centrality of Heathrow Airport might also impact continental Europe as a destination for non-EU tourists.

Visa has started to anticipate the consequences of Brexit on European tourism. While the new regulations will obviously impact English tourists (9 out of 10 destinations for UK travellers are in Europe), it will also have an economic consequence as they represented in 2016 a total value of EUR 37 billion in spending (for some countries, this is far from being a detail: in Spain, English tourists represent 23% of total entrants).

However, in addition to that, the new frictions at the Anglo-European border might also have a consequence on international tourism: as Heathrow Airport was the most internationally connected hub for the last 3 years, the difficulties of entering Continental Europe from England (no fast track, need of documents…) might lead to a loss of appeal of multi-country visits to Europe (which for Asian tourists, in particular, is important).

Global Economic Insights Jan 2021