Key tourism facts

The British Tourist Authority has released the following information on tourism to the UK:

Tourism is one of the largest industries in the UK, worth approximately £75 billion in 2000, comprising:

Spending by Overseas Residents		£ billion
	Visits to the UK	12.8
	Fares to UK carriers	3.2
Spending by Domestic Tourists
	Trips of 1+ nights	26.1
	Day Trips	32.7

It accounts for 4.7% of GDP and employs 2.1 million people.

Inbound Tourism to the UK:

The 25.2 million overseas visitors who came in 2000 spent £12.8 billion in the UK.

The total number of visits for 2000 was 25.2 million, a -1% change compared with 1999, and an increase of 2% in spending to £12.8 billion.

The UK ranks fifth in the international tourism earnings league behind the USA, Spain, France and Italy.

The top five overseas markets for the UK in 2000 were:

	Visits		Spend
	Millions		(£m)
USA	4.1	USA	2,752
France	3.1	Germany	887
Germany	2.8	France	684
Irish Republic	2.1	Irish Republic	570
Netherlands	1.4	Australia	517

Employment:

There are an estimated 2.1 million jobs in tourism related industries in the UK, some 7% of all people in employment in Great Britain. There are more jobs in tourism than in construction or transport.

Approximately 160,000 of these jobs are in self-employment.

2001
The US terrorist attacks of September 11th, which followed hard on the heels of the foot and mouth outbreak, have depressed travel to Britain. Final figures for 2001 confirm that inbound tourism lost £2billion, a drop of 16%.