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BITOA predicts hard times ahead
Latest figures from the British Incoming Tour Operators Association (BITOA) confirm that the war on Iraq is having a negative impact on the number of visitors to Britain.
The trade body has just released its Business Barometer figures for February, which show that visitor arrivals as well as forward bookings fell sharply during the month. According to the organisation “the impact on inbound tourism is fast approaching that of Foot and Mouth Disease just two years ago.”
The statistics show visitor arrivals for February down 8.4% on the same month in February 2002. According to BITOA, while short haul traffic is holding up well there has been a dramatic drop in long haul numbers. The organisation points out that some operators are “reporting numbers down by over 50%.“
Forward bookings have fallen by 13.8% compared to February 2002, continuing the trend seen in January when forward bookings were down by almost 15%.
BITOA points out: “These figures reflect the situation before the start of the War in Iraq and therefore the prospect of any short term improvements are slim.”
On a more positive note, BITOA says that unlike with Foot and Mouth disease there is likely to be a quicker recovery in visitor numbers to Britain.
However what impact killer bug SARS is likely to have on visitor numbers to Britain remains to be seen – as it is not yet known how many people will choose to stop travelling altogether. A BITOA spokeswoman told TravelMole: “It’s an issue that has been moving up the agenda in the past few days, but at the moment it is not something we have had feedback from our members about. So far it’s been more of an issue for outbound visitors with warnings for travellers to those particular areas.”
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