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The end of last week exploded with news that the United Kingdom would leave the European Union within the next couple of years.
While it will be a long time before we understand or realize its ramifications, there have already been immediate reactions from people around the world.
Rather than currency and stock prices, we were given insight into tip inquiries from travel website Liligo.com.
The website's managing director, Mario Gavira, helped us with an explanation of how Brexit is affecting the industry.
But first, here are some things you might find interesting:
Graohs courtesy Liligo
The first is a representation of searches being done across all sites with the UK set as the location. While the second illustrates how those within the United Kingdom searched for destinations outside its borders following Brexit.
With the pound plummeting, you can see that many outside the nation were intrigued by the possibility of a summer or fall holiday in England.
For those within the UK, the gut reaction was to simply flee - at least flee to the nearest search engine for a virtual respite.
Gavira offered some thoughts on the above graphs and what is being viewed over at Liligo.com.
TravelPulse: What are you seeing from the initial reaction of searches on Liligo.com following the remarkable outcome of the Brexit vote?
Mario Gavira: We saw an initial reaction in searches almost immediately following the announcement of Britain leaving the EU. The news of the decreasing value of the pound, and perhaps the increased media coverage, were impactful based on the enhanced interest of the United Kingdom as a destination based on our data. We saw heavy increases of searches to the UK from consumers in the United States, France, Italy, Spain and Germany. We're still seeing a continued spike in searches from Italy and Germany according to the most recent data. Overall, we've seen sharp increases in searches across all 15 liligo.com sites since the vote.
Do you expect this trend to maintain throughout the summer?
MG: We expect searches to the UK to stabilize but remain higher than interest before the Brexit vote. It's still too early to tell how the trend will progress from the data we have so it's difficult to predict how British tourism will be impacted.
What impact overall do you feel Brexit will have on tourism in and out of the UK?
MG: It's too early to tell. However, the decreasing value of the pound and our current data suggest that interest in tourism within the United Kingdom will continue to be of interest to potential travelers, especially for Europeans interested in shopping destinations like London. On the flip side, outbound tourism from the UK to Europe and the States could suffer due to the weak currency.
What has the volume of searches been like from the UK and to its region? Are there signs those in Britain are declining to take a holiday in the wake of such uncertainty?
MG: Since the vote, we've seen that searches to the United States, Australia, and India have increased from consumers in the United Kingdom. We've also seen a drop of Brits searching for travel opportunities in France and Spain. As mentioned, due to the weaker currency there is the risk that outbound travel will be negatively impacted but we likely won't see the effects of that immediately. Many British travelers have already booked their immediate holidays, so it will be last-minute travel that is impacted most heavily.
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