Assessing the Impacts of the Global Economic Crisis and Swine Flu on Inbound Tourism Demand in the United Kingdom

The recent economic crisis and swine flu pandemic have had significantly negative impacts on global tourism. Tourism in the United Kingdom has also suffered as a result of the two crises, although their actual impacts have yet to be evaluated. This study analyzes the impacts of these two phenomena on the demand for U.K. inbound tourism during the 2008Q1-2009Q2 period among visitors from the country’s 14 major visitor source markets. An econometric framework is proposed to separate and estimate the impacts of swine flu and the economic crisis on U.K. tourism demand.