＂Brexit＂ detonated the enthusiasm of China tourists to Britain

　　After the British referendum "Brexit" last week, the British exchange rate plummeted and may continue to fall in the future. Britain instantly became the focus of consumers’ attention, and domestic travel agencies immediately launched various concessions to meet the upcoming British tourism boom.

　　Xu Xiaolei, chief brand officer of CYTS Travel Network, believes that Britain’s "Brexit" is a good thing for China tourism investors, which provides an opportunity for China tourism enterprises to "bargain-hunting" in the UK; As travel agencies reduce the cost of purchasing hotels and air tickets, consumers will also get more favorable prices. On the other hand, Britain does not use Schengen visas, but uses British visas and pounds independently, so "Brexit" will not affect British visas.

　　Xu Xiaolei said that from the experience of the tourism industry, the purchase of food, accommodation, travel, entertainment and other factors included in tourism products often occurred one to three months ago, and the impact of exchange rate changes on the price of tourism products often will be fully released in the next one to three months. On the other hand, the downward trend of the exchange rate of the British pound and other currencies affected by this will inevitably lead to an increase in the prices of products that citizens of Britain and other relevant countries visit China, which is not conducive to the recovery of the inbound tourism market to some extent.

　　At present, it is the peak season of summer tourism. For China citizens to travel to the UK, CYTS Travel Network has launched a series of products, such as Britain’s depth and one place, and Britain’s essence connection. Such as panoramic view of Britain-Harry Potter trip, British+Irish food market-royal yacht and other products. Compared with previous years, CYTS pays more attention to the depth and comfort of tourists’ travel experience. Taking Beijing as an example, in view of the pain of tourists’ travel fatigue, all airlines choose direct flights from Beijing to Britain. At the same time, there is a strong demand for summer students’ travel, and the annual summer promotion activity-the series of packages where the results of the college entrance examination are spent as money, will be launched. Those products that are ordered and successfully paid for in the UK from June 27th to July 27th can also enjoy the discount of going straight to 1000 yuan, which will make travel to the UK more affordable.

　　In addition, Britain’s "Brexit" has caused the pound to show a large downward trend, which also brings the best opportunity for tourists to shop in the UK. From June to August, the temperature in Britain is not only suitable for tourists to travel, but also the summer discount season will come. World-class brands in the major shopping cities of Britain, such as Manchester and London, will have large discounts, which is a rare window for tourists to travel and shop.

　　There will be an explosive growth in tourism to Britain.

　　According to statistics, in 2015, the number of tourists from China to the UK increased by 46% compared with 2014, reaching 270,000; At the same time, China tourists’ spending also increased by 18%, reaching 586 million pounds. According to the data released by Ctrip, Britain is one of the important destinations for Chinese people to travel to Europe, especially during the summer vacation, ranking in the top three all the year round.

　　Judging from the British referendum "Brexit" and the sharp drop in the pound, it should be very obvious to boost Chinese people’s travel to the UK in the short term. With the decline of local tourism costs and shopping costs, the cost performance will be greatly improved. Ctrip experts believe that after the exchange rate fell, the cost of ground connection in the UK dropped by about 9%. "It can be said that this is an unprecedented good time to travel to the UK".

　　The devaluation of the pound will further stimulate Chinese people’s desire to go shopping in Britain. It is reported that the "sweeping army" has planned to go to the UK, and Ctrip expects that there will be explosive growth in British tourism this summer.

　　According to Ctrip’s statistics, the popularity of the UK has been rising steadily since the implementation of multiple visas to the UK for two years in January 2016. From January to June this year, Ctrip’s team tours, free travel, ticket play and other business services exceeded 10,000 people, an increase of 40% over last year. Britain ranks 24th among the most popular overseas destinations for China tourists and second in Europe. According to Ctrip data, in the first half of 2016, the European destinations visited by China tourists were: Italy, Britain, Germany, Russian and French.

　　According to statistics, the average cost of domestic tourists traveling to the UK is 15,025 yuan, of which the proportion of free travel for group tours is 52∶48, which is the mainstream compared with the connected products in previous years. Since this year, the number of tourists who choose the UK for in-depth group tours and free travel has increased significantly. More than 50% of consumers choose products from the UK, and the products of "Scotland+England+Ireland for 10 nights on the 12th" have the most transactions on Ctrip App, with nearly 3,000. Nearly 50% of China tourists stay in the UK for more than 10 days, and 40% of tourists stay in the UK for 7-10 days.

　　At present, Britain’s influence in China’s first tier cities obviously exceeds that of second-tier cities. In the first half of 2016, the top 10 cities that visited Britain were Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Wuhan, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Shenyang and Fuzhou. However, British officials, airlines and domestic travel agencies are optimistic about the growth of second-and third-tier cities: Britain will set up three visa service centers in Xi ‘an, Changsha and Kunming next month to meet the strong tourism demand of China tourists. Just last Saturday, Chongqing opened its first direct flight route to London.

　　The number of searches in the UK doubled from the previous month.

　　According to Ctrip, this weekend after Brexit, the search volume of keywords related to British travel such as "Britain" and "British pound exchange rate" in Ctrip’s Raiders community has doubled month-on-month. Not only that, but also the browsing volume of pocket raiders and travel notes of relevant destinations in the UK has increased accordingly. In the words of the person in charge of Ctrip Raiders, "It seems that all people who have plans to travel in the summer vacation are watching Britain this weekend."

　　According to the data provided by Ctrip, among the British destinations that Chinese people want to visit most, the British Museum ranks first, followed by Buckingham Palace, London Eye, Thames, Tower Bridge, Edinburgh, Cambridge University, Manchester, Oxford University, Bath and Birmingham.

　　After the news of the referendum "Brexit" was announced last weekend, the search volume of Ctrip App UK routes increased by 200%, and the volume of UK orders in summer increased by 150% month-on-month. Many routes were sold out as of the beginning of August. Experts predict that if the exchange rate continues to fall, Britain will become the biggest dark horse market in the second half of this year.