kabarsula VisitBritain CEO: Middle East uncertainty caused ‘real slowdown’ in Australian bookings bandar SLOT INDONESIA
The CEO of VisitBritain, Patricia Yates, has revealed that uncertainty in the Middle East caused a “real slowdown” in the number of Australians booking travel to the UK.
Speaking to Travel Weekly at VisitBritain’s Australia Travel Trade Mission yesterday, Yates said the conflict had affected bookings from Australia.
“Australia… tends to be quite a long booking period. So that uncertainty – I think about half the routes go through the Middle East – really worried people and it did cause a real slowdown,” she said.
Bookings have since started to recover, with Yates pointing to airline capacity as a sign of confidence in the market.
“Qatar’s obviously flying and British Airways and Qantas have announced their new routes. So I think it will come back and there’s a bit of pent-up demand there, hopefully… [meaning] that we get a great 2027,” she added.
The recovery comes after VisitBritain country manager Kristen Angus revealed that Australians are expected to contribute £1.86 billion (AU$3.5 billion) to the UK economy in 2027.
The opportunity and challenge presented by VFR
Yates was candid about both the opportunities and challenges presented by Australia’s close links with the UK.
“About 40–45 per cent of people are still doing VFR (visiting friends and relatives), so that’s an opportunity and a challenge,” she said.
“It’s an opportunity because, if you think of our drive to get people out of London and explore more, they’re probably starting outside London anyway.”
However, VisitBritain also wants those visiting friends and relatives to spend more time exploring the country.
“It’s always an issue on VFR. So what we need them to do is go out and experience more, or just see the family for a bit of a trip and then go around.”
Encouraging these travellers to see more of the destination is a key priority for VisitBritain, she said.
Addressing the passport issue
Changes affecting dual British citizens made headlines earlier this year, with Australians holding British citizenship needing to ensure they have the correct documentation to travel to the UK.
Yates said the issue initially received less attention as the industry focused on the introduction of the UK’s Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA).
“I think we’d all been focusing on the ETA, and actually the dual citizen announcements were at the same time, and it sort of slipped under the radar somewhat because it was, as you say, a bigger deal here than in other markets.”
However, she said VisitBritain quickly became aware of the impact on Australian travellers.
“We very quickly realised that it was an issue, and the British Embassy were really good at getting passports out quickly for people.”
Her advice to Australian travellers was clear: “Check before you go. Don’t leave it to the last minute.”
Attracting the modern traveller
While Australia’s love of the UK isn’t going anywhere soon, Yates said VisitBritain cannot rely solely on the country’s historic links with Australian travellers.
“You can’t afford to rest on your laurels. So even if you have those historic links with an older cohort, you’ve got to have an appeal… to newer audiences.”
But keeping Britain’s tourism offering fresh isn’t only about younger travellers.
“As an older traveller, you don’t want to… be bucketed in a dusty castle sort of thing, do you?”
For younger travellers in particular, Yates said shareable experiences were increasingly important.
“Experience is really important. Something that’s braggable, that’s Instagrammable, and that you can talk about and share with your friends.”
However, social media cut-through brings its own challenges, particularly when viral destinations experience a sudden influx of visitors.
“Cotswolds villages are very in at the moment because Americans are buying lots of houses there,” Yates said, however she also pointed out the region’s small roads and transport infrastructure.
Managing those visitor numbers and encouraging travellers to venture beyond tourism hotspots is increasingly important.
“It’s our job to spread people out from the honeypots and to get people to go at different times of year, so they’re not all descending on one Sunday in August.”
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