Euro strength brings holiday ‘bargain hunters’ to Britain
Bargain hunting late bookers from the Continent are making use of the strength of the euro to plan trips to the UK.
Latest figures for February from trade organisation UKinbound show a 1.4% increase in arrivals over the same month last year.
The majority of the rise was attributed to European bookings on the back of the “seemingly inexorable strengthening of the euroâ€.
But at the same time, high value long haul business “remains in the doldrumsâ€.
“It is also clear that much of the demand is coming from last minute bargain hunters and this is readily confirmed by the fall in forward bookings for the seventh month in a row,†UKinbound said.
The organisation continues to be concerned about the lack of US tourists to Britain.
“Some economists are claiming that the worst of the so called credit crunch is now behind us and that the US economy is set for a strong second half of 2008; whilst fervently hoping this is so, we fear that many consumers, particularly in the USA, may remain cautious in their holiday plans for some time yet.â€
by Phil Davies
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