One last one: British Holidays and European people
There’s one thing we can definitely say about the Brits — they reeally love to go on holiday in Europe. The Italian Toscana, the French countryside, the Greek islands, the Canaries…you name it. Well, as summer is here, will there be any changes in European tourism? Or will they face some resentment from European countries since the vast majority sees Brexit as harmful for the EU?
What we can say for sure is that they can expect to be paying up to 10–15% more than last summer. The pound has plunged to a 31-year low against the dollar, £1 is about €1.17 that’s down from € 1.30 before the Referendum and €1.40 mid August 2015 (!). So their stay in any European country will be more expensive — unless they have already booked their vacation before the referendum ;)
I doubt that there will be any drastic changes for British people who plan to go on holiday in Europe. As long as article 50, which marks the UK’s formal departure from the EU, is not induced Brits will still be able to travel just the way it was before. There might be a new trend to go on holiday in Britain itself and enjoy a ‘staycation’ — if it’s too expensive to travel to Europe.
The more interesting question might be, whether the British might face some sort of resentment from European countries. As we’ve seen before and after the result, EU politicians won’t grant the UK any special favours over the single market and most of the European citizens see Brexit as harmful for the EU.
Undoubtedly, there is some resentment from European politicians but when it comes down to the tourism industry …I guess countries like Greece or Spain -heavily dependent on tourism- will welcome British people nonetheless.
If we look at it from another angle though, there has also been some rise in Euroscepticism in Europe itself, support for the EU dropped in seven major countries according to an analysis by the American Pew Research Centre:
‘More than 60 per cent of French voters now have an unfavourable view of the European Union while almost half the electorate in Germany, Spain and the Netherlands have also become Eurosceptic, new research reveals.’
The financial crisis, the huge influx of refugees from Syria and North Africa with its controversial handling have contributed to the discontented feeling which swipes over Europe at the moment. With Britain actually exiting the EU, the resentment towards Brussel might grow and give rise to nationalists parties. The EU faces the huge task of restoring confidence in its own institution and hopefully, they will tackle it successfully and initiate some major reforms so that this dissatisfaction of EU policy diminishes.
