If you love soccer, you should put a trip to England on your bucket list. It is the birthplace of the sport, which was invented in 1863. England has traditionally been a more expensive tourist destination for American tourists because the British pound is often valued so highly against the United States dollar. Since the nation voted to leave the European Union, in a vote, known the world over as “Brexit,” the pound has dropped in value making travel to England a lot more appealing. If you were looking to find a sports travel agency and take a trip to watch soccer in England, this might be a very good time to do that.
According to an article in the Washington Post, the wave of uncertainty that has occurred due to the vote has been the reason for the steep drop in the value of the English currency. A lot of this is because most of the experts believed that voters in England would opt to remain a part of the European Union. While a lot of economic experts remain mixed on the long term implications of this move, travel experts see good opportunities for them to find a sports travel agency and plan travel to the island nation.
Pauline Frommer, editorial director of Frommerandrsquo;s guidebooks and its website, said,”The British pound has already tumbled 10 percent. The last time the pound was seen at this level was 1985. In terms of your buying power, this is good news.”
The flip side of the good economic conditions for Americans who want to travel to England, Wales or Scotland, is that there may be longer lines at customs checkpoints for all airports in Great Britain. Frommer said, “Right now, when you go to, say, London, you arrive at Heathrow, thereandrsquo;s one line for everyone in the EU and there’s one line for everyone else. The andlsquo;everyone elseandrsquo; line is going to get much bigger, which is bad for us North Americans.” This change is not set to happen immediately, however.
The UK managing director of Travelzoo, Joel Brandon-Bravo believes that people should find a sports travel agency and plan their travel based on how the pound is doing. He thinks that they should wait until it has reached the lowest level possible. He recommends buying currency when the U.S. dollar has the most value vis-a-vis the British pound. It is possible to buy prepaid cards in British pounds, which will save travelers the cost that can be added to individual transactions. He said, “If you think it’s bottomed out, buy your pounds now. It could fall further or recover. Same applies if you haven’t booked your hotel. Right now, your dollars buy more pounds than yesterday, so watch the currency and prepay the hotel if you think the pound has bottomed out against the dollar.”
The Brexit vote is even impacting airfares to Britain. The president of Airfarewatchdog, George Hobica has reported that he has noticed that airfares have gone down since the historic vote. He saidandlt; “The day after the Brexit vote, we saw airfares to London on Virgin Atlantic and other airlines for fall travel reduced to $500 round-trip.”
Hobica commented that what is going to happen to the policies and procedures for border control may be changed in the wake of this vote. He said, “Beyond the immediate effects of Brexit, the future looks murkier, but once border controls are put in place it will become harder to move between countries. If Scotland, which voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU, becomes a separate country, youandrsquo;ll need to go through border controls and show a passport between London and Edinburgh.” This may also impact travel between Northern Ireland and Ireland itself. Northern Ireland is currently a part of Britain, while Ireland is a part of the European Union.
For people who are looking to find a sports travel agency, it should be noted that the separation of Britain from the European Union is not something that can happen overnight. It is expected to be at least two years before the process can be completed.
