Travel & Tourism Industry: Industry Facts
- Tourism is one of the largest industries in the UK, accounting for 3.5% of the UK economy.
- The 32.1 million overseas visitors who came in 2006 spent £15.4 billion in the UK. 2006 was a record year for UK inbound tourism both in terms of volume and value (in nominal terms).
- In 2005 the UK ranked fifth in the international tourism earnings league behind the USA, Spain, France and Italy
- Over 2 million jobs are sustained by tourism activity in the UK, either directly or indirectly.
- There are an estimated 1.4 million jobs directly related to tourism activity in the UK, some 5% of all people in employment in the UK .
- Approximately 130,400 of these jobs are in self-employment.
- In 2003, the turnover of the hotel industry was £10.9 billion. This represented an increase of 4% compared to 2002.
- Total visits for 2006 are 32.1 million, a 7% increase compared with 2005, and an increase of 8% in spending to £15.4 billion.UK domestic tourism is also very important : Expenditure in 2005 is estimated to be over £68 billion.
- In 2005 UK residents took:
59.3 million holidays of one night or more spending £11.5 billion
22.5 million overnight business trips spending £5.3 billion
52.7 million overnight trips to friends and relatives spending £5.4 billion
- In 2005, average room occupancy for all serviced accommodation throughout the UK was 59% (down 2 percentage points from 2004). Average bedspace occupancy was 44% (a decrease of 1 percentage point on 2004).
- In Scotland there are 20,000 tourism businesses in the country, generating £4.2 billion value to Scotland p.a. Tourism is set to grow to £6.0 billion by 2015.
