Weaker GBP will increase Chinese spending power, says JGOO

Analysis from mobile payments platform JGOO says that the chance of a hard Brexit or a general election this year means that the value of GBP could fall further.

They say this would lead to a surge in Chinese tourists visiting the UK and buying the country’s goods online.

The research claims that the spending power of Chinese citizens has already increased by 5.6 per cent in the last year.

It is thought that this could increase to 22 per cent if sterling falls to parity with the US dollar.

The North East accounts for 4.8 per cent of the nights spent in the UK by Chinese tourists and 3.8 per cent of the overall spend.

The prospect of a weaker GBP is therefore not all bad news for the North East economy.

Richard Morecroft, director and co-founder of JGOO said: “Under Boris Johnson, the new Government appears to be taking a tougher stance over Brexit and the chances of leaving without a deal are increasing.

“In addition to this, the Conservative majority in the House of Commons has fallen to just one on August 1 when the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election resulted in a Liberal Democrat victory, increasing the chances of a general election.

“All of this is putting pressure on Sterling, and if it does fall, this will no-doubt have a negative impact on many parts of the UK economy.

“Such a fall is likely to be a huge boost for UK retailers when selling their goods to tourists, to those buying remotely from China and for the country’s tourism industry as a whole.”