How important is tourism in the UK’s economy?

[Pages:2]How important is tourism in the UK's economy?

The big picture

Tourism is one of the largest industries in the UK.

According to a recent (Deloitte) study, tourism was worth ?115.bn to the UK economy in 2009 once the direct and indirect impacts are taken into account, equivalent to 8.9% of UK Gross Domestic Product.

Tourism contributes ?96.7bn to the economy in England (8.6% of GDP), ?11.1bn in Scotland (10.4%), ?6.2bn in Wales (13.3%) and ?1.5bn in Northern Ireland (4.9%).

One in twelve jobs in the UK is currently either directly or indirectly supported by tourism.

The future

The Deloitte study found that tourism would account for a similar proportion of the overall UK economy in 2020 as it did in 2008 (8.8%). The number of jobs that tourism supports is forecast to increase by

250,000 between 2010 and 2020 (from 2.6 million to 2.9 million).

The long-run growth rate of the visitor economy is forecast to be 3.5% per year over the period 2010 to 2020 (well ahead of the 2.9% forecast for the economy as a whole). Tourism is the UK's third highest export earner (behind Chemicals and Financial Services), with inbound visitors spending more than ?17bn annually and contributing over ?3bn to the Exchequer.

Inbound Tourism to the UK

The 30.8 million overseas visitors who came to the UK in 2011 spent ?18 billion.

In 2011 the UK ranked seventh in the international tourist arrivals league behind France, USA, China, Spain, Italy and Turkey (slipping down one place from sixth in 2010 as Turkey moved up one place). The UK accounted for 3.0% of global arrivals (unchanged from 2010).

In 2011 the UK ranked seventh in the international tourism earnings league (compared with sixth in 2007) behind the USA, Spain, France, China, Italy and Germany according to UNWTO figures.

The UK now accounts for 3.5% of international tourism receipts (3.3% in 2010).

In 2011 France, Germany and the USA were the top three markets in terms of number of visits to the UK accounting for nearly one-in-three visits. The top three markets measured in terms of visitor spend were USA, Germany and France, accounting for just over one-quarter of visitor spend.

London accounts for 52% of all inbound visitor spend, the rest of England 35%, Scotland 8% and Wales 2%.

London 2012- Olympic facts

? 680,000 visitors from overseas spent an average of ?1,350 each, a total of over ?920 million. T ? Visits to the UK by overseas visitors in September were 1% higher than a year earlier however, the spend was 17% higher than in September 2011. ? Spending in the 12 months to September 2012 totalled ?18.7 billion, a record high and represented annual growth of 5% ? Provisional figures released in early November show that the UK received 23.5 million overseas visitors in the nine months January-September. Spend for the same period, however, was ?14.3 billion ? a 9% increase on January - September 2011. This is in line with our forecast that the country should expect around 31 million inbound arrivals in 2012, spending around ?18 billion.

1. Using evidence, give reasons why tourism is important to countries such as the UK. 2. Using the graph and you own knowledge, explain why tourism has grown so much. 3. Why do you think that the continents of Europe and North America have seen tourism grow so much? 4. Why do governments of some of the world's poorer countries want tourism to grow even more? EXTRA Find an image of a tourist area (cities, mountains or coastal areas) and explain why tourists are attracted there.

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