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Tourism and Brexit

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Thousands of inches of newsprint have been exhausted since last summer over whether Britain's departure from the European Union will have an impact on tourism to the Balearics. So far it appears not; bookings to the Balearics have risen by seven per cent for next year. The British Consul General to the Balearics and Catalonia Lloyd Milen has quite rightly pointed out that British tourists do not come to the Balearics because Spain is a member of the EU. We all know why British tourists come to the Balearics and obviously it has more to do with beaches, sunshine, great food and a warm welcome than the EU.

There are two main concerns over British tourism: that the EU will demand that British tourists get travel visas to come to the continent (highly unlikely) and a possible fall in value of pound sterling. On visas, I sincerely doubt that the governments of Portugal, France, Italy, Greece and Spain - all top holiday destinations for Britons - will shoot themselves in the foot and make life difficult for one of their sources of revenue, British tourism. A fall in sterling against the euro will not directly impact on tourist visitors but their spending power. So really there are not too many concerns. The British love affair with the Balearics looks set to continue despite Brexit. Any good relationship can overcome any problem, Brexit included.

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