How Brexit damaged UK tourism

There are clouds on the horizon for Britain’s tourist industry. The UK remains a hugely popular destination – the government-funded tourist association Visit Britain estimates 43.4 million foreign visits in 2025 – but arrivals are estimated to spend 9% less in real terms this year than they did in 2019.

The long-term forecast doesn’t look entirely promising either. Britain is slipping behind our neighbours. “Looking forward, the UK is likely to lose competitive share both within Europe and globally,” VisitBritain said. Meanwhile, “if inbound tourism to the UK was to grow at the same pace as forecasts are currently indicating for western Europe, the value of inbound spending would be worth an additional £4.4 billion per year by 2030 to the UK economy.”

What is fuelling this fall? Factors being blamed include UK hotel prices rising faster than inflation and fears about the new Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme that comes into force for foreign travellers from April this year. But of course, there’s always Brexit. Before we left the EU, its citizens could travel here using only their identity cards. Many – especially children who used to come on school trips – don’t have passports.

In the week that Visit Britain’s report came out, a letter to the New European arrived from Robert Sissons in Sandgate, Kent. It sums up some of the damage far more eloquently than I could, so I will reprint it here. He writes:

“I worked for 35 years with two of the UK’s leading tour operators, and meanwhile studied to become a qualified Blue Badge tourist guide for London and south east England, my current profession. From the 1980s to the 2010s everything got easier: as more countries joined the EU, tedious frontier controls became unnecessary.

“I can recall waiting for about two hours with 50 frustrated tourists at a dusty crossing point on the Spanish/Portuguese border on a hot summer day in 1984 while our coach and paperwork were examined and the more adventurous members of the party queued to exchange their remaining pesetas for escudos. Twenty years later I drove over that border without stopping and with no need to exchange the euros in my wallet. If my employers ever needed me to travel to the EU at short notice, there was never any concern about getting a visa or about how many days I’d spent in the EU over the past six months.

“Before Brexit, large numbers of EU visitors came to the UK, many on day trips or weekend breaks. About 30% of my work as a tour guide was meeting groups of French and Belgian tourists at Dover, the Channel Tunnel terminal or Ashford International Station and taking them on tours of south east England. This work has completely disappeared.

“Although the requirement for passports for French school groups was lifted last year, the long delays at customs and immigration mean that day trips are no longer practical – and the international tracks through Ashford station are rusty and disused. The few French school groups I guided last year – all coming for short stays – all complained about long waits at Dover, and on one occasion their Polish coach driver was detained and interrogated for half an hour and told he would not be allowed to work in England!

“There were also numerous trips going the other way. Day trips from Ashford International to Paris, with a guided tour of the city and lunch in a typical bistro, were popular. Short breaks visiting world war I cemeteries and historic cities like Bruges or Arras were commonplace, particularly on Bank Holidays, in addition to the ubiquitous ‘booze cruises’.

“Again, long delays at customs and immigration, and on the roads around Dover and Folkestone, have brought an end to this formerly lucrative work. One Kentish coach company I know has sold half their fleet since Brexit.

“Other than providing work for tour guides and coach drivers, tourists also visit gift shops, restaurants and cafes, and their entrance fees help towards the maintenance of historic buildings. Many of the little shops in Canterbury that formerly catered to overseas visitors have closed since 1989.

“Signing up to the single market and restoring some degree of freedom of movement would go a long way towards helping the tourist industry, though I fear many of my former customers now regard the UK as a country that hates all foreigners.”

Yet another way in which Brexit has made Britain worse. One particular tourist, who has recently completed a trip to Washington DC, should take note.