ONS figures show devastating year for tourism

Wednesday, 07 Feb, 2002 0

Latest figures released by the Office for National Statistics have confirmed expectations that inbound tourism lost £2billion in 2001 said the British Tourist Authority (BTA) today.

During the period January to December 2001, compared to 2000, overseas visitor spending fell by 14% to £11bn. Spending by overseas visitors to the UK in December decreased by 19% to £765 million compared to December 2000, making December 2001 a particularly bad month.

Total visitor numbers to Britain from overseas were down 17% on December 2000 (to 1.5million) and for the whole of 2001 down by 7% (to 23.4million) on the previous year.

In response to these figures, The British Tourist Authority said that:

 The figures are in line with BTA’s expectations and come as no surprise given the impact of both the foot and mouth outbreak and the aftermath of 11 September on inbound tourism to Britain and global air travel.
 The full year results clearly indicate that the Government was well advised to allocate additional funding in 2001 for marketing activities, including its new UK OK campaign launched last month.
 Prior to foot and mouth and 11 September, inbound tourism spend to Britain was predicted at £13billion for 2001. The actual spend was £2billion lower. The biggest drop in visitors was from the longer-staying and higher-spending long haul markets, although the number of visits from Europe was the lowest since 1994.

Jeff Hamblin, Chief Executive BTA, said: “Although not unexpected, these results prove that Britain’s inbound tourism industry has been dealt a serious blow by the events of 2001.

“BTA’s UK OK initiative, which is spearheading our efforts get visitors back to Britain, has already received widespread support and drawn much needed attention to Britain as a destination. As UK OK continues to roll out in seven key markets, we are confident that this strong reassurance message, backed up by some 1,200 special offers and a strong ‘Visiting Friends and Relations’ campaign, will see results very quickly.”

The full results for December and the full year 2001 are shown below:

DECEMBER

	DECEMBER		FULL YEAR 2001
	Visits (000)	% change	Visits (000)	% change
North America	230	-7	4,370	-10
Western Europe	1,050	-15	14,480	-6
Rest of World	240	-30	4,510	-9
Total Visits	1,520	-17	23,350	-7
	£m		£m
Total Spend	765	-19	11,025	-14