A weakened pound is causing UK holidaymakers to stay in the UK, according to travel recruiters.

Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that overseas trips by UK residents in the three months to May 2009 dropped 2%, while inbound visits, from overseas holidaymakers increased by 3%.

Debbee Dale, managing director at AA People Development, part of travel staffing firm AA Appointments Group, told I that the pound is attracting visitors to the UK and encouraging holidaymakers to stay in the UK.

“The UK regional and national Tourist Boards have been trying to exploit this in the past six months and more and they feel that its actually having an impact now. This year there have also been a lot of offers from UK-based operators to influence UK holidaymakers to stay in the UK.

“Another positive impact has been the weather. We were told this would be a better summer and that encourages people to stay at home.

“For recruiters, all this is positive. The tourism sector (attractions, tours, theatre etc) needs more people to service visitors. Tour operators are keeping reservation staff and when we consider that business travel and overseas leisure travel has taken a hit this year we have plenty of experienced and motivated candidates looking to fill these positions.”
 
Ian Brooks, director at Gail Kenny Executive Search, adds: “The trend is showing a swing away from outbound traffic to an uplift in inbound traffic to the UK is being driven by the relative weakness of sterling against most currencies.

“We are already seeing an increase in recruitment among our clients who operate in the UK tourism sector, and a recent example has been a demand for UK hotel contractors from one of our clients.

“However, the majority of our clients are ‘outbound focused’ and there has been a steady increase in new roles coming through over the past few months which we believe reflects a generally more confident outlook.”