Brexit will not rock the Rock’s tourism

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 Wednesday, August 15, 2018 - 11:43 Mark Viales

THE Panorama interview

Joe Garcia, Editor of this newspaper, wrote an article in the 1960s for the Manchester Evening News entitled ‘Who owns the Rock? Soon it may be the tourists’. 

Back then there were around half-a-million tourists arriving on Gibraltar shores on an annual basis and spending around £2 million. Coinciding with the closure of the military dockyard and the opening of the frontier, a terrific tourist boom took place in the mid-eighties as Gibraltar’s lifeline to Europe was restored.

Today, Gibraltar has around ten million visitors a year, which rivals cities of much larger stature.

At the helm of the Gibraltar Government decision-making team on attracting tourism from abroad is Minister Gilbert Licudi. One of the latest major catalysts to boosting the industry and drawing more visitors to the Rock, according to the Minister, is event-led tourism. But could Brexit uncertainty threaten a bustling sector that has seen nothing but growth in decades? Minister Licudi told PANORAMA that he did not think it would, but contingency plans had nevertheless been put in place.

<a target="_tab" href="http://gibraltarpanorama.gi/customform.aspx?smid=34590">INTERVIEW IN FULL IN PANORAMA PRINT EDITION AND E-EDITION</a></p>

15-08-18 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR