Those were the findings of this month’s British Hospitality Association (BHA) Travel Monitor.
 
Some predictions have claimed that the fall in the price of sterling after the EU referendum would lead to an increase in visitors to the UK, but the BHA Travel Monitor has this week countered this.
 
According to the latest BHA report, there were 450,000 fewer holiday passengers year to date versus the same period in 2015, compared with the 400,000 drop reported in the first Travel Monitor, published last month.

By contrast, outbound holiday passenger numbers continued to grow strongly, “suggesting a slowdown in the UK staycation market”.
 
The BHA Travel Monitor, published monthly and quarterly, also highlighted a year-on-year decrease in overall UK holiday spend by overseas visitors, while UK spend overseas was up more than 10%.
 
Ufi Ibrahim, chief executive of the BHA, said: “We launched the BHA Travel Monitor so that we can provide, through detailed and structured analysis of passenger data, a true picture of hospitality and tourism performance.

“Our analysis has shown that there is increasing pressure on the industry through lower inbound holiday passengers and higher outbound holiday passengers.
 
“With political and economic uncertainty increasing it is more important than ever to ensure UK tourism can compete.

“The UK continues to have on average twice the tourism VAT rate across Europe.

“Alongside businesses investing in the apprenticeship levy, the national living wage and rising business rates, this signals concern for businesses in the industry, four out of five of which are SMEs.
 
“The BHA Travel Monitor sets a worrying trend for the short-term future of the hospitality and tourism industry which, as the fourth largest sector employing 4.49 million people, is crucial to the UK economy.”