Business News Round Up (03/11/2020)
Collapse in international visitors costing UK economy £457m a week
The COVID-19 crisis has brought the inbound tourism sector to a near standstill, with a 76% drop in international visitors throughout 2020, and key markets such as the USA and China closed almost entirely. As a result of this, the UK economy is projected to be losing £457m a week this year through the loss of visitor spending in the UK. Throughout the UK, inbound intermediaries, such as tour operators and destination management companies (DMCs), who are responsible for bringing in over half of all international visitors are facing a precarious future, with just 17% being confident about the next twelve months and 60% fearing that their business will be unable to survive the crisis.
Medium-sized businesses believe the regional economic gap has widened
COVID-19 will worsen the UK’s north/south economic divide according to a study of 500 medium-sized business leaders, published today by accountancy and business advisory firm BDO. When asked about their top three short-term operational challenges in this month’s BDO Rethinking the Economy survey, North West businesses listed making loan payments (47%), balancing cashflow (40%) and managing international supply chains (40%). Nationally the biggest concern mirrors the North West’s response of paying back business loans with a quarter of UK company leaders agreeing. Looking ahead to 2021, 30% of North West businesses claim ongoing COVID-19 restrictions are the biggest threat to their company. More than half of businesses feel they will need additional funding this winter, but 47% of businesses expect they will survive a second wave of COVID-19 without additional financial support.
Rents down and voids increase as market cools across UK
October proved a slower month for the UK rental market, with the average cost of rent falling and void periods increasing in all regions, property technology company Goodlord has found. Across the UK the average cost of rent decreased by -9%, with the South West seeing the biggest reduction (-26%). Void periods rose to 23 days in October, up from 19 in September. This autumnal drop appears to be an annual trend in the South West and across the UK as a whole. Between September and October last year, the South West region saw a 19% month-on-month reduction in rental prices. The highest void periods are in the South West, at 27 days. This is closely followed by the West Midlands, where the average crept up to 26 days.
https://www.propertywire.com/news/rents-down-and-voids-increase-as-market-cools-across-uk/
Scottish video games industry ‘continues to grow’
Employment in Scotland’s video games industry grew by 17% in the 18 months to April 2020, according to new data from trade organisation TIGA. The research found Scotland had 1,803 permanent and full-time equivalent creative staff working on games development in 96 companies. This was up from 84 companies employing 1,537 staff in November 2018. The sector also supported a further 3,296 indirect jobs – up from 2,810 in 2018. The figures indicated that Scotland was home to the fourth largest games cluster in the UK, after London, the south east and the north west.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-54779644