70% of Brits say losing EU passport has zero effect on the holiday experience

Research by digital identity security specialists, ID Crypt Global, reveals that 70% of British passport holders say losing their EU passport has had no impact at all on their holiday experiences, dispelling fears of delays and complications for Brits heading abroad in the post-Brexit era.

To discover how holding a non-EU passport is impacting the foreign holiday experience for Brits, ID Crypt commissioned a survey of 1,542 British passport holders and started by asking how frequently they set off of foreign holidays.

The response reveals that a quarter (25%) of us take multiple foreign holidays each year while a further 29% make sure to get away at least once a year.

Despite the predicted travel chaos in the wake of Brexit, only 20% of British passport holders have experienced any kind of travel delays as a result of no longer being a member of the EU.

Among those 20%, 14% say that the cause of the delay was immigration/customs clearance; 5% cite security checks; 2% say that baggage claim was at the core of the delay; and 1% were held up while boarding or disembarking the plane.

But an overwhelming majority of British passport holders say that holidaying in the post-Brexit era is simply business as usual.

69% say that leaving the EU has had no impact whatsoever on their holidays while 19% say that Brexit has had a ‘somewhat negative’ impact on foreign travel and 9% say the impact has been significantly negative’.

Meanwhile, 4% say that no longer holding an EU passport has actually improved the holiday experience.

CEO and Founder of ID Crypt Global, Lauren Wilson-Smith, commented:

“There was a lot of concern about Brexit’s impact on the holiday enjoyment of British passport holders, but it appears that much of that concern was unnecessary. So while some of us may have been sad to see our identity as Europeans being stripped from us, losing said EU membership is having little effect on our holiday experience.

Perhaps that’s because the UK was always one step removed from the true EU travel experience due to insisting that passports be shown when leaving and entering the country, unlike EU nations within the Schengen Area, for example.

Anecdotal evidence also suggests that a British passport is now considered just one step down from a EU passport when it comes to customs and security checks at airports or ferry terminals, while passports from other non-member nations are scrutinised a little more closely.

Perhaps a singular ID that allowed us to traverse national boundaries could be the way forward? It would certainly streamline things, not to mention the fact it would put to bed the Brexit argument when it comes to British passports.”