As of May 21, 2020, about one third of respondents in the United Kingdom planned to spend their annual leave on holidays in the UK if travel abroad was still difficult due to lockdown restrictions. Over a quarter of respondents expected to spend more time at home.

Over half of holidaymakers in the United Kingdom planned to re-book all their overseas holidays, both short-break and longer, once the travel restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus would be lifted in 2020. For short-break holidays, about ** percent planned to re-book them in part, compared to ** percent for longer holidays.

Social media has been vital for consumers, suppliers, workforce and partners to remain engaged amidst this exogenous event of COVID-19.
This thematic research report takes an in-depth look at the theme of Social Media and its impact on travel and tourism during COVID-19 affecting super-national organizations, DMO’s, airlines, lodging providers, cruise operators and travel intermediaries. This report analyzes the major impacts that may become longstanding and then presents an array of case studies demonstrating the creative and innovative ways companies and organizations have acted during this time.
“Social media has most openly been utilized as a tool for travel businesses and DMO’s to maintain contact with consumers worldwide – to generate wanderlust and look towards recovery when travel is once again possible. Even though the battle with COVID-19 is now beginning to lessen and restrictions are easing, it is clear there will be long-standing impacts on consumer behavior and social media is one of the major themes that will drive future changes”. – Johanna Bonhill-Smith, Travel & Tourism Associate Analyst, GlobalData. Read More

Travel was brought to a standstill by COVID-19, threatening the UK economy. With restrictions now lifted, let's review some emerging trends in the UK tourism industry.

In 2023, there were ******* trips from Norway to the United Kingdom, which marked an increase from the previous year. While visitation rates dropped significantly in 2020 and 2021 due to travel restrictions imposed during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, they had already been declining since 2014, following a peak of ******* trips.

There were approximately ******* visits from Greece to the United Kingdom in 2023, an increase over the previous three years, *** of which were heavily affected by international travel restrictions during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

In 2023, there were *** thousand visits from Slovakia to the United Kingdom. This was an increase from the previous year. The years 2020 and 2021 had been impacted by the travel restrictions put in place during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Context

OXFORD COVID-19 GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TRACKER

Data from https://www.bsg.ox.ac.uk/research/research-projects/oxford-covid-19-government-response-tracker

Content

Governments are taking a wide range of measures in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT) aims to record these unfolding responses in a rigorous, consistent way across countries and across time.

OxCGRT collects publicly available information on 11 indicators of government response, such as school closings, travel bans, or other measures. For a full description of the data and how they are collected, see this working paper.

For more information see https://www.bsg.ox.ac.uk/research/publications/variation-government-responses-covid-19 and https://www.bsg.ox.ac.uk/research/publications/variation-government-responses-covid-19.

There are currently > 9,000 entries.

Acknowledgements

Data from https://www.bsg.ox.ac.uk/research/research-projects/oxford-covid-19-government-response-tracker

Banner Photo by Trust "Tru" Katsande on Unsplash

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COVID-19 and COVID-related decisions are having significant impacts on children and adults vulnerable to, and already experiencing, the crime of forced marriage. This mixed-methods project aimed to chart and understand this impact, inform evaluation of the UK's response to COVID-19, and shape on-going policy regarding the UK's pandemic response. This collection includes a timeline of key COVID-19 related events and government restrictions. This includes key data such as when COVID-19 (and variations) was discovered, and when significant case numbers were reached globally and in the UK. It also includes detail of when key forced marriage-related COVID-19 restrictions were brought in, and lifted, in 2020, and 2021, across the UK and also in each of the devolved jurisdictions. Plus processed data from this timeline, including visualisations.COVID-19 and COVID-related decisions are having significant impacts on children and adults vulnerable to, and already experiencing, the crime of forced marriage. Our mixed-methods project will chart and understand this impact, inform evaluation of the UK's response to COVID-19, and shape on-going policy regarding the UK's pandemic response. We consider the uneven economic and social impact of the pandemic, and the ethical dimensions of unequal impacts of COVID-related decision-making, on this vulnerable group, and seek to impact how civil society and the voluntary sector support vulnerable people. The government's Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) and the charity Karma Nirvana (KN) (which provides a national forced marriage helpline) have warned about the significant impact of the pandemic on forced marriage in the UK. We designed this project with both organisations, and will work with them to analyse quantitative and qualitative data about the impact of COVID-19 on those at risk of, or experiencing, forced marriage; and to record and analyse the challenges faced in the pandemic, evaluate the efficacy of mitigation strategies, and formulate new policies and practises for protection and response. Within the first 6 months, we will have co-created an accurate account of the economic and social impact of COVID-19 and COVID-related decision-making on victims of forced marriage, and the ethical implications of unequal impacts. We will then continue to chart the changing risk environment, while co-developing policy reports and recommendations for the UK government (including FMU), NGO practice responses (including KN), and other stakeholders, to improve the on-going response to COVID-19 and build community resilience. We collected information from public websites, including UK government website, official airline carrier websites (and their Twitter feeds), and news media. We were particularly interested in a pre-set set of criteria, including: regulations relating to national and local “lockdowns” (or “stay at home” orders), restrictions on gatherings, school closures, restrictions relating to weddings, closures or access to places of religion, travel and shielding. In addition, we looked for any key dates or statistics for the pandemic at a global scale, and international travel restrictions relating to Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan (because these are countries which regularly feature as "focus countries" in Forced Marriage Unit Data. We took a chronological approach, starting with UK-wide and global events, then focusing on England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and other countries. We made visulisations of data on regional and local lockdowns in 2020 using tableau, and also used the data collected to count how many days regions in England were under different Covid-19 restrictions relevant to vulnerability to forced marriage.

Over the five years through 2024-25, revenue is projected to fall at a compound annual rate of 3.1%. Faltering conditions in the air travel market weigh on finances as online travel agencies (OTAs) scrabble to issue refunds and make alternative travel arrangements for consumers when airlines go bust or strikes happen. Unsurprisingly, OTAs didn't escape the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak and global travel restrictions that brought plummeting sales, litigation threats and restructuring activity. Bookings exploded following the scrapping of travel restrictions in March 2022. Still, OTAs' troubles weren't over immediately when borders reopened – the spike in passenger numbers has taken time to translate into the same rise in revenue, with customers booking holidays using credit notes and vouchers amid COVID-19 backlogs. Still, bookings so far in 2024-25 are outpacing those seen in 2023-24, suggesting another strong year of revenue growth. Airlines, hotels and tourist attractions are under tremendous pressure to recoup losses from the COVID-19 outbreak. Charging extra for add-ons or upping prices across the board has been the order of the day, but passing on price rises and squeezing the customer isn't a good idea when finances are already tight. Demand for travel has proved resilient despite the cost-of-living squeeze, with many making a holiday their top discretionary purchase. Still, travellers are looking for great value, which has seen an uptick in package holidays. In 2024-25, revenue is anticipated to climb by 5.1% to reach £1.9 billion, and the average industry profit margin is set to sit at 8.4%. Over the five years through 2029-30, revenue is forecast to swell at a compound annual rate of 1.2% to reach £2.1 billion. Competition from tourism providers will intensify as suppliers cut prices and boost loyalty programme rewards to attract bookings. While OTAs may not be able to compete against airlines and hotels on price and loyalty programs, they can emphasise personalisation. Social media is the new marketing norm and OTAs needs to prioritise digital marketing. As momentum gains on sustainable travel intent, so does the opportunity for OTAs to further efforts in building and communicating more sustainable travel experiences.

As global communities responded to COVID-19, we heard from public health officials that the same type of aggregated, anonymized insights we use in products such as Google Maps would be helpful as they made critical decisions to combat COVID-19. These Community Mobility Reports aimed to provide insights into what changed in response to policies aimed at combating COVID-19. The reports charted movement trends over time by geography, across different categories of places such as retail and recreation, groceries and pharmacies, parks, transit stations, workplaces, and residential.

There were around ******* trips from Denmark to the United Kingdom in 2023, an increase over the previous year. In 2022, the number of visits rose dramatically from ****** in 2021, a year that had been heavily impacted by the travel restrictions imposed during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Recreational sea angling is an important recreational activity in the United Kingdom with around 1.6% of adults participating and a total economic impact of around £1.5 billion each year. There are positive impacts of angling on physical health and mental well-being. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in several national lockdowns in the UK, which along with additional local restrictions and personal circumstances due to the pandemic, have impacted people’s ability to fish. Angling was not allowed in the UK for some of the first lockdown (March to May 2020), and further restrictions were implemented subsequently that varied between the countries and regions. The impact of COVID-19 on the participation, effort, physical activity, and well-being of UK sea anglers remains unknown. A panel of UK sea anglers, which record their activity and catches as part of the Sea Angling Diary Project, were surveyed to assess changes in sea angling participation, physical activity, mental well-being, and expenditure between 2019 and 2020. We compared the sea angling effort and catches of the diary panel between 2019 and 2020. We found reduced sea angling effort in the panel, including sessions and catches, between 2019 and 2020, with the largest impact being in April 2020. We found that there was a significant reduction in expenditure during April 2020 with 64% of respondents spending less on sea angling than in a typical April. In total, 67% of respondents reported reduced happiness and 45% were less active due to sea angling restrictions. Using a general linear model, we found that even though anglers said that being able to go fishing has resulted in high World Health Organization Five Well-being Index scores, other factors also had significant effects. These included: age; physical and mental health status; angling activity; travel to fish during COVID-19; and whether they fished in July 2020. Of those who responded, 66% classified themselves as at either high or moderate risk to COVID-19. This work has shown that COVID-19 has negatively affected marine recreational fisheries in the UK, and not being able to go sea angling has negatively impacted participation, effort, physical activity and well-being.

Recent months have been unprecedented in the tourism sector. Travel restrictions, flight suspensions, falling consumer confidence and a slew of negative press are just some of the issues airlines are having to contend with. As one of the airline industry's leading players, Lufthansa has been severely impacted. Read More

Holiday accommodation providers rely significantly on domestic tourists, with demand for holiday spending driven by consumer confidence and disposable income levels. Companies have faced significant volatility due to swings in tourism numbers, including the plunge caused by the COVID-19 pandemic followed by a strong recovery in domestic travel. Revenue is expected to soar at a compound annual rate of 11.1% over the five years through 2025-26 to £4.1 billion, despite a forecast dip of 0.1% in 2025-26. The growth rate has been skewed and inflated due to the significantly low value in the base year of 2020-21 amid the COVID-19-driven collapse in tourism. Revenue bounced back once COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, with revenue surging over the two years through 2022-23 amid a significant boost from the staycation trend. However, revenue growth had been held back since late 2022-23 by the cost-of-living crisis tightening consumers' purse strings. Significant consumer demand for holidays and soaring inflation encouraged holiday accommodation providers to hike prices, boosting revenue from bookings but also putting some price-sensitive consumers off from staying at industry accommodation. A slowdown in staycations and prolonged financial challenges have weakened revenue over the three years through 2025-26.The emergence of online travel agents has made it easier for independent accommodation providers to compete with larger companies, enticing newcomers into the industry. However, the enduring popularity of online private short-term rentals like Airbnb steals away guests. Intensifying competition has placed pressure on prices, which, alongside severe inflationary pressures, has weighed on the average profit margin, which is estimated to be 14.7% in 2025-26. Revenue is forecast to mount at a compound annual rate of 3.1% over the five years through 2030-31 to £4.7 billion. Climbing domestic and international visitor numbers will support growth. Given the anticipated expansion in inbound visits to the UK, companies must find ways to attract foreign travellers, who typically stay at hotels or use home-sharing platforms. Growing disposable incomes will spur consumer spending on holiday trips, though this may also lead to some travelling abroad or staying at more upscale hotels. That being said, home-sharing platforms like Airbnb and competitively-priced hotels investing in enhancing facilities and offerings will continue to lure consumers away from holiday accommodation providers. Industry companies will have to bump up investment in technology and sustainability to remain competitive and attract guests. Intense price competition and elevated staff costs will continue to weigh on revenue and profit.

In 2023, there were approximately ******* visits from Turkey to the United Kingdom, marking a significant increase compared to the previous year. The years 2020 and 2021 were severely impacted by travel restrictions due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In the three years leading up to the pandemic, annual visitation from Turkey to the UK consistently exceeded ******* trips.