Editing Economy of the United Kingdom (section)

===== Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic =====
The travel restrictions and lockdowns necessitated by the pandemic negatively affected the entire hospitality/tourism section in 2020 with a 76% reduction in "inbound tourism" to the UK that year according to [[VisitBritain]]. The January 2021 forecast for the year indicated an estimate that visits from other nations would be up "21% on 2020 but only 29% of the 2019 level". Some increase was expected during 2021, slowly at first; the tourism authority concluded that the number of visits was not expected to come "even close to normal levels".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.visitbritain.org/2021-tourism-forecast|title=2021 tourism forecast |date=20 April 2015 |access-date=8 April 2021|quote=From mid-March to mid-July, COVID-19 triggered a near-total shutdown in international tourism ... there was an increase in visitor numbers from this low point, although they remained very low, and dipped again towards the end of the year.}}</ref>

The same VisitBritain report also discussed the effects of the pandemic on domestic travel within the UK in 2020, citing a significant reduction in spending, for an estimated decline of 62% over the previous year. As of January 2021, the forecast for the year suggested that spending would increase by 79% over the previous year and that "the value of spending will be back to 84% of 2019 levels" by the end of 2021.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.visitbritain.org/2021-tourism-forecast|title=2021 tourism forecast |date=20 April 2015 |access-date=8 April 2021|quote=forecast assumes a slow recovery in early 2021 before a step change in the spring ... followed by a gradual recovery throughout the rest of the year and beyond.}}</ref>

Some of the "COVID-19 restrictions" on domestic travel were to be loosened on 12 April 2021 and the UK planned to begin relaxing some restrictions on travel from other nations in mid May.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.visitbritain.org/covid-19-new-coronavirus-latest-information-and-advice-businesses-1 |title=COVID-19 (new coronavirus) – latest information and advice for businesses |date=4 November 2020 |access-date=8 April 2021|quote=whether non-essential international travel can resume on 17 May, or whether we will need to wait longer before lifting the outbound travel restriction.}}</ref> The latter plan became less certain as of 8 April 2021 when sources in the European Union stated on that a "third wave of the pandemic [was sweeping] the continent"; the [[Lineage B.1.1.7|B117 variant]] was of particular concern.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/en/european-travel-restrictions-nonessential-travel-curbed/a-56350272 |title=European travel restrictions: Nonessential travel curbed |website=[[Deutsche Welle]] |access-date=8 April 2021|quote=Amid the coronavirus pandemic, many countries worldwide continue to restrict entry and most travel remains discouraged.}}</ref> Two days earlier, PM [[Boris Johnson]] had made it clear that "We don't want to see the virus being reimported into this country from abroad".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-06/boris-johnson-uk-travel-reopening-coronavirus-covid-19/100050006 |title=Boris Johnson refuses to set hard date for Britain to reopen for international travel |newspaper=ABC News |date=5 April 2021 |access-date=8 April 2021|quote=Amid the coronavirus pandemic, many countries worldwide continue to restrict entry and most travel remains discouraged.|last1=Whalan |first1=Roscoe }}</ref> All travel restrictions ended on 18 March 2022.<ref>{{Cite news |date=18 March 2022 |title=Covid travel restrictions have ended in the UK |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-60789979 |access-date=9 December 2023}}</ref>