Visit Britain defends domestic tourism

A recent study on UK domestic tourism is blaming poor transport infrastructure for a downturn in Brits holidaying at home, but VisitBritain says there hasn’t been a downturn.

The study, called “The Travel and Tourism Market Review” was commissioned by market intelligence company, Key Note. It claims that UK domestic tourism growth rates are much lower than those predicted for outbound tourism.

According to Key Note, for the period 2002 to 2007, the number of domestic trips should increase by about 10%, compared to 18% for overseas visits and domestic tourism expenditure is expected to rise by 17% compared to 35% abroad. However, it says domestic tourism should see a slight upturn from 2004 when growth rates settle at around 4%.

VisitBritain says that although domestic tourism isn’t increasing at the rate of overseas tourism, it is on the up. Corporate PR manager, Orla Fallon, told TravelMole that she thought the survey headline – “Widespread rejection of UK holidays”, was slightly misleading.

She said: “The headline doesn’t relate to the rest of the release.

“Our own survey shows that trips taken in the UK have increased steadily since the 1980s. In 1989 it was 109 million, and last year it was 167 million. You also have to add to that the fact that there hasn’t been a TV advertising campaign for England, which is a large share of the domestic market, for ten years.”

Ms Fallon said it would be the end of the year before VisitBritain had the statistics that showed how effective the TV campaign had been. However, she said that early signs, such as website visits and brochure requests, were positive.

The survey, commissioned by Key Note, was carried out by a consumer research company, which polled 1,010 UK residents.

Key Note editorial team leader, Simon Taylor said: “In recent years, expenditure on outbound tourism has grown faster than disposable income as a result of the strength of sterling and the falling real cost of travel but increasingly it is poor infrastructure which is affecting the domestic holiday market.

“The rail system is achieving some of the lowest reliability and punctuality statistics on record, and the roads are becoming increasingly congested. As the range of overseas holidays increases, and their cost falls, the outbound market is looking increasingly attractive and will inevitably grow at the expense of the domestic market.”