Fewer People Travel...At Least to these Places

In the last few days a number of countries have issued numbers on how tourism is performing. All four, Greece, Indonesia, Thailand and the United States have all shown a decline
In Greece tourism spending has dropped by nearly 18% for the first five months of the year compared to last year but in May alone it fell by nearly a quarter. Despite an increase on the tourism promotion budget of 50% over last year and the new museum at the Acropolis, there seems no upturn in sight.
Indonesia has not been hit quite so badly. Tourism is only down there 8% which seems pretty satisfactory compared to Greece. A large chunk of tourism is based on Bali, a growing destination for Britons as well as being very popular with Australians. Even a drop of 8% has prompted the Indonesian government to find another 9.4 million to spend on attracting visitors.
Thailand has been one of the worst hit in Asia. Tourism there is down 22% and they are expecting 3 million tourists less this year and they think that the swine flue scare might reduce numbers further. However Thailand has been hit by demonstrations against the government which will have caused some tourists to think twice about visiting and also the scamming at Bangkok which the government has now announced will result in extra vetting at the airport this week.
And finally the US has announced sharp drops as well. And its not just Brits who have decided to stay away. Even Canadians are in reduced numbers as are those from south of the border as well.
It is surprising then, that numbers of visitors coming to Britain is holding up.
And for those of us going abroad, there will be lots of temptations during both summer and winter to get us to visit at least these four countries. I have even seen airline prices to the US about £200 less than I expected to see for this summer.

So Where Are We Going This Summer?

All the schools have broken up now. My local rail carpark is only about half full and the 7.30am traffic jam no longer exists. That means that some of you have already started your holidays.
So are you holidaying in this country, having a staycation or are you going abroad after all? We are going to have to wait a little while to see where you have actually gone as opposed to where you said you would go.
But there is one guide to what is happening and that comes from the bureaux de change. Knowing which currency has been bought gives a pretty good indication of where you are going and the Post Office has come up with some information.
It looks as though more of you than we thought are going abroad after all. According to them, Kenya, Thailand, Egypt and Indonesia (well Bali really) are doing well in comparison to previous years and now that the pound is performing better against the euro, we are increasingly looking at the traditional places like Greece, Spain and Italy again. Turkey was always going to do well and so it has proved top be since £1 buys over 8% more than it did a year ago.
But Kenya is the big surprise. Currency sales have nearly trebled. After the disputed election and the problems there over a year ago, some people thought it might take a while for tourism to recover. It has bounced back faster than thought although Tanzania and Botswana are seeing increases as well.
Thailand also performed well but that might be a blip given the recent news about scamming at Bangkok Airport. (see our feature page)
More importantly the strength of sterling has come at the right time. It is up 15% since the lows of January. Just right for the holiday season.