The dramatic drop in the valuation of the British pound post-Brexit has triggered a massive rise in spending by American travellers in the United Kingdom.
Visitors from the U.S. has spend about 70% more in the initial six months of 2017 as compared to that in the corresponding period of 2016. The number of Americans arriving in the UK had increased by just 18% that time suggesting that people had been spending more as much as they did before in the same period in 2016.
Sterling had actually been the lowest in the last 30 years, according to Tom Jenkins who is the chief executive of the European Tourism Association.
The pound had slumped to about $1.21 in January and it has been the lowest ever since the year 1985. Currently, Americans pay 18% less for goods than they would have prior to the referendum of last year’s summer.
Americans and other non-EU tourists are also being exempted from paying VAT on the items they carry home offering them a greater discount. Analysts said that tourists from the US are actually purchasing high-value luxury goods as well as electronic items.
The average transaction value was £820 as per Global Blue that is a firm that processes VAT refunds for tourists from outside the EU.
Though the drop in the value of the British pound is great news for the tourism industry of the UK, Britons vacationing abroad have been compelled to go for extra outlay. The spending by British tourists overseas has risen by 15% this year to £4.6 billion
Despite the shopping spree that has overtaken American tourists, the Office for National Statistics has said last week that the overall spending by the tourists to the UK had risen by just 2% to £2.2 billion.
