For thousands of Britons, the summer holidays are a yearly ritual and people from all walks of life travel to different parts of the world during this time. More often than not, the most popular choices as far as destinations go, are in mainland Europe and countries within the European Union. However, it has now emerged, that the current Brexit problem has probably altered British consumer behaviour significantly and this year, most of the tourists from the country have chosen to travel to non-EU destinations. The reason behind the development lies in the chaos that has engulfed the nation over the course of the year with regards to its exit plan from the EU. The UK was supposed to make its formal exit from the EU on the 29th of March but did not come to pass as the Prime Minister Theresa May could not push her deal through parliament, and hence, the deadline had to be extended. However, it does not seem that anything is going to be resolved soon.
That being said, the ensuing chaos and uncertainty affected the travel preferences of the citizens of the country quite decisively. If Brexit had kicked in, then Britons should have needed separate visas to travel to any EU nation, and since the whole thing was up in the air, travel agencies like Thomas Cook asked travellers to not book holidays in nations. For instance, travellers would have been in a soup if the UK formally exited the EU while a citizen was still on holiday in a nation like Germany. The data regarding the whole development has been revealed by leading British travel firm Thomas Cook.
The travel firm squarely blamed Brexit and the ensuing chaos with the change in the behaviour of British travellers. In a statement, Thomas Cook stated, “The prolonged uncertainty around the manner and timing of Britain’s exit from the European Union has led many to delay their decision on when and where they book for their summer holidays.” However, at the same time, it is worthwhile to note that the fact that so many Britons are now travelling to non-EU nations should also prove to be a huge boost to the travel industries in those nations in question. However, Thomas Cook hastened to add that the appetite to travel abroad remains strong as ever among the British people.