The big travel news of the current fall/winter season is the drop in the value of the British pound. As we go to press, the pound is selling for only $1.21. It used to sell at $1.60, and the new value is claimed by some analysts to be the lowest in 30 years. For most American tourists, the cost of hotels, meals, theater tickets, and the like has been decreased by close to 30%.
The result, as you may have guessed, is a land-office rush of tourism to Great Britain, currently enjoying record amounts of incoming visitors. But unlike other countries with a devalued currency, it isn't possible for British hotels and restaurants to increase their prices to tourists in order to offset the currency drop. That's because Great Britain is a relatively prosperous nation whose own citizens frequently travel, and who would be discouraged from doing so if overall prices were to be raised.
For some idea of the values now available to U.S. visitors to Great Britain, go to any search engine and enter the words "Cheap London Hotels." You'll be rewarded with radically discounted hotel rates on such websites as Trivago, Booking.com, and the like. Currently, there are four-star London hotels offered to you for as little as $138 (that's 138 U.S. dollars!), surely a record among hotels of such quality.
For even cheaper costs of accommodations, bear in mind that Britain has no regulations reducing the use of Airbnb—unlike the anti-Airbnb laws in force in many other countries. You can easily and lawfully discover all sorts of overnight bargains for rental of entire apartments throughout the British isles, and even cheaper rates for rental of spare rooms in British apartments occupied by their owners.
Other favorable developments? One is the first-time-ever operation of the London subways throughout the night, a precedent-making convenience that was recently put in place. Currently, you can attend the theater in London, then proceed to a leisurely after-theater dinner in restaurants all throughout the theater area, without missing the last train home. And London, of course, operates a theater-ticket discount service in Leicester Square (similar to the TKTS operation in New York''s Times Square), enabling you to enjoy more than affordable rates for attenting the superb plays and musicals of the London stage.
So now's an excellent time to visiti Britain—and British exchange rates may become even more favorable for Americans as the consequences of Britain's exit from the European Union become even more evident, and the British pound sinks further in value (as a great many financial experts are predicting).
