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14 Jul 2004 : Column 1153W—continued

Tourism

Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many tourists she estimates have visited London from Belgium since 1997. [183571]

Mr. Caborn: The number of visits to London by residents of Belgium, in each year since 1997, are shown in the table.
Visits to London by residents of Belgium

	Number (Thousand)(5)
1997	420
1998	366
1999	357
2000	312
2001	302
2002	289
2003	306

⁽⁵⁾ Figures taken from the International Passenger Survey which is run by the Office for National Statistics. Figures for regional visits by nationality are often based on small samples, which may lead to high margins of error, and should therefore be regarded as approximate estimates.






 
14 Jul 2004 : Column 1154W
 

Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many tourists she estimates have visited the East of England since 1997 from (a) the USA, (b) Belgium and (c) China. [183570]

Mr. Caborn: The number of visits to the East of England by residents of the relevant countries, in each year since 1997, are shown in the table.
Visits to the East of England by year Thousand⁽⁶⁾

Country of residence	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
USA	222	275	222	252	211	208	214
Belgium	47	51	50	61	39	57	43
China	4	1	3	3	5	4	5

⁽⁶⁾ Figures taken from the International Passenger Survey which is run by the Office for National Statistics. Figures for regional visits by nationality are often based on small samples, which may lead to high margins of error, and should therefore be regarded as approximate estimates.

Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many tourists she estimates have visited the North West since 1997 from (a) Japan, (b) Sydney, (c) the USA and (d) Belgium. [183572]

Mr. Caborn [holding answer 12 July 2004]: The number of visits to the North West by residents of the relevant countries, in each year since 1997, are shown in the table. Figures are only available by country of residence which means that no figures are available for visits from Sydney.
Visits to the North West by year Thousand⁽⁷⁾

Country of residence	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Japan	29	31	30	36	18	20	19
USA	240	280	263	238	192	209	222
Belgium	31	27	27	50	42	41	58

⁽⁷⁾ Figures taken from the International Passenger Survey which is run by the Office for National Statistics. Figures for regional visits by nationality are often based on small samples, which may lead to high margins of error, and should therefore be regarded as approximate estimates.

Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many tourists she estimates have visited the North East since 1997 from (a) China, (b) Japan, (c) Korea, (d) Taiwan, (e) Australia, (f) the USA and (g) Belgium. [183573]

Mr. Caborn: The number of visits to the North East by residents of the relevant countries, in each year since 1997, are shown in the table.
Visits to the North East by year Thousand⁽⁸⁾

Country of residence	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
China	1	1	(9)—	1	1	2	2
Japan	3	4	3	5	4	3	4
South Korea	1	0	0	1	(9)—	2	2
Taiwan	2	1	1	3	1	3	4
Australia	23	17	34	17	22	22	21
USA	54	52	45	45	54	52	43
Belgium	22	7	24	11	13	24	14

⁽⁸⁾Figures taken from the International Passenger Survey which is run by the Office for National Statistics. Figures for regional visits by nationality are often based on small samples, which may lead to high margins of error, and should therefore be regarded as approximate estimates.
⁽⁹⁾Indicates that the sample did not include any visitors to the North East from the relevant nationality.



 
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Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many tourists she estimates have visited the South East since 1997 from (a) Belgium, (b) the USA, (c) Germany, (d) China, (e) Korea, (f) Japan and (g) Australia. [183574]

 
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Mr. Caborn: The number of visits to the South East by residents of the relevant countries, in each year since 1997, are shown in the table.
Visits to the South East⁽¹⁰⁾ by year Thousand⁽¹¹⁾

Country of residence	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Belgium	179	147	168	115	147	153	116
USA	622	709	640	679	592	561	500
Germany	515	498	526	415	395	462	433
China	4	9	10	6	8	7	11
South Korea	10	6	5	7	6	9	7
Japan	62	62	52	62	37	42	31
Australia	150	149	147	163	158	140	146

⁽¹⁰⁾ The Government Office Region of the South East excludes London.
⁽¹¹⁾ Figures taken from the International Passenger Survey which is run by the Office for National Statistics. Figures for regional visits by nationality are often based on small samples, which may lead to high margins of error, and should therefore be regarded as approximate estimates.

Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many tourists she estimates have visited the South West since 1997 from (a) Japan and (b) the USA. [183575]

Mr. Caborn: The number of visits to the South West by residents of Japan and the USA, in each year since 1997, are shown in the table.
Visits to the South West by year Thousand⁽¹²⁾

Country of residence	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Japan	36	34	31	40	20	24	15
USA	343	385	350	362	287	277	279

⁽¹²⁾ Figures taken from the International Passenger Survey which is run by the Office for National Statistics. Figures for regional visits by nationality are often based on small samples, which may lead to high margins of error, and should therefore be regarded as approximate estimates.

Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many tourists she estimates have visited Yorkshire since 1997 from (a) Japan and (b) China. [183576]

Mr. Caborn: Figures are available for the number of visits to the Government Office Region of Yorkshire and Humberside. The number of visits to this region by residents of Japan and China, in each year since 1997, are shown in the table.
Visits to Yorkshire and Humberside by year Thousand⁽¹³⁾

Country of residence	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Japan	14	18	11	15	8	8	7
China	2	1	2	3	2	4	5

⁽¹³⁾ Figures taken from the International Passenger Survey which is run by the Office for National Statistics. Figures for regional visits by nationality are often based on small samples, which may lead to high margins of error, and should therefore be regarded as approximate estimates.





 
14 Jul 2004 : Column 1157W
 

SCOTLAND

Empty Houses

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland for how many empty houses his Department is responsible; and if he will make a statement. [182238]

Mrs. McGuire: The Scotland Office is not responsible for any empty houses.

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