The director of Cosmos Tours, Hugh Morgan, who has dedicated his life to managing some of the UK’s top tourism brands, admitted today, as he waited for his flight back home to Palma, that he could not wait to leave the country.
"Not only was I shocked, numbed and seriously disappointed by the result, the rest of the country appears to be as well. I’ve yet to meet anyone, of any age, who voted to leave, and look what mayhem it’s caused. Spain wants Gibraltar, ISIS is threatening to blow up the world and the Dutch are now leading a lengthening list of countries who also want to leave.
"What is more, nobody in the UK appears to know what is going on. That 350 million we’re going to get back was a lie and even Farage has been admitting it, or rather denying he even said it.
"It’s bad news for the tourist industry. It’s bad news for industry in general because neither businesses nor consumers like uncertainty and one of either two things will happen from our point of view. People will either go on holiday or do nothing.
"We’ve hedged our finances to cover the winter and next summer but come the end of this season, who knows what it will mean for tourism.
"We’ve already put out our 2017 brochures and the market response had not been great. OK, it’s early days, but people are going to be watching the pound, their mortgages and their savings because the interest rate will go up, so will inflation - there are genuine fears of another recession.
"Most people have only just seen their pensions climb back to their true value after the 2008 recession hit. Few people are going to want to go through all that again, there is not the stomach for it.
"And I can understand why the industry is worried in the Balearics; Brits have less to spend now. OK, we’re talking about a record summer bookings wise, so we’ll see what happens post-October, but there are some strange things happening in the market.
"Despite there being no beds, there are flights on sale out to Palma at the height of peak season for just 29 pounds, and that is not normal.
"And Thomas Cook had to cap its foreign exchange because it was running out of money. June was a tough month, in fact sales were down, so something is having an effect on the industry and it’s not positive."