Tourist spend in UK hits five-year low

Spending by overseas visitors to the UK has hit a five-year low, with the strong pound and escalating conflicts

around the world being blamed for halting shopping sprees.

The latest figures from retail specialist, Global Blue, revealed that there has been a 4 percent year-on-year drop in tax-free spending by international visitors since the start of the year, which has been linked to the collapse in the number of visitors from China and Russia, who are usually the big spenders.

Gordon Clark, UK country manager at Global Blue said the decline has been caused by “political unrest and weakened home currencies” while added that overseas shoppers were “spending more per transaction but are making fewer purchases than they would have in the past”.

Global Blue, which operates tax-free services in 43 countries, has reported a drop in spend across all leading retail tourism destinations for the second quarter of 2014, with a fall of 3 percent year-on-year overall.

Clark said: “More than ever now British retailers and hotels need to review their international marketing plans, product range and staff training to ensure they still continue to secure this crucial international spend.”

The figures reveal that the China and the Middle Eastern nations continue to top the spend in the UK, even though growth has slowed, while Russian consumers currently being hit by a weakening economy due to the Ukraine crisis has resulted in a 20 percent decline in spending.

Clark added: “Chinese spend is up 8 percent year-on-year so far this year, much less than the 20-50 percent growth we have seen in the past few years. However, as economies begin to recover, we expect to see growth from key nations pick up again.”