Examination of Witnesses (Questions 478-479)
RT HON
RICHARD CABORN
24 OCTOBER 2006
Chair: Welcome Minister. As you know,
we are looking at coastal towns and taking this up with a number
of ministers with different responsibilities.
Q478 Dr Pugh: May I start off with a
very easy question? What action is your Department taking to monitor
the number of domestic and overseas visitors to coastal towns
and also how much they spend, which is the key factor?
Mr Caborn: I do not think they
monitor specifically visitors to coastal towns; that would be
an expensive exercise. We are accused of too much bureaucracy
as it is now. We can give you figures and a breakdown in writing
from VisitBritain of how many are coming here and we can ask them
if they would make a stab at whether they believe they are going
into coastal towns. It would be very difficult to see exactly.
We are trying desperately to make sure that this great capital
of ours, London, is a gateway into the whole of the United Kingdom
of which coastal towns are part. If you are asking me specifically
whether we have a breakdown of those figures, I do not think we
have, but I shall ask VisitBritain to provide you in writing with
the best stab possible at that.
Q479 Dr Pugh: In terms of profiling
tourist patterns to the British coast, do you have no information
at all? Do you have anything you can provide to us?
Mr Caborn: Britain received 91
million spending £16.2 billion, England accounted for 70.8
million of these holidays and £12.2 billion of the total
spend. That is domestic holidays involving at least one overnight
stay in the year 2003. The British took 20.5 million seaside holidays
in the UK, spending £4.7 billion; England accounted for 19.1
million of these and £3.5 billion of the total spend. As
a proportion of all holidays, seaside holidays in England by British
account for 27% of holiday trips, 32% of all nights and 29% of
all spend. That does not give you what you were asking, which
was on seaside holidays. If we have any further detailed analysis
on that, I shall send it in writing to your Clerk.
| 
