1 Introduction
1. The UK's tourism industry is made up of a vibrant
mix of inbound, outbound and domestic travel and tourism businesses
which are integrally linked to one another, often using the same
infrastructure, consumer base and regulatory framework. In 2013,
there were 32.8 million visits to the UK by people living abroad;
39% of these were as part of a holiday. In the same year, UK residents
paid almost twice as many—58.5 million—visits abroad.[1]
However, in 17 of the UK's top 20 source markets, the UK's share
of outbound tourism has decreased over the last 5 years while
the gains to domestic tourism made from the "staycation"
effect appear to be eroding as the UK economy recovers and the
pound strengthens.[2] On
16 March 2015, the Tourism Alliance published the latest statistics;
these show a significant fall in domestic tourism visitor numbers—to
levels not seen since 2008.[3]
According to the British Hospitality Association, the UK has fallen
to 8th in the UNWTO [United Nations World Tourism Organization]
international tourism arrivals league, while France, Italy, Spain
and Germany are all ahead of the UK. The single greatest challenge
facing the tourism industry lies in this international competition.
The World Economic Forum's Travel and Tourism (T&T) Competitiveness
Report 2013 provides context:
The United Kingdom moves up by two more positions
since the last edition of the Report, to reach 5th place this
year. The country's T&T competitiveness is based on its excellent
cultural resources (ranked 3rd), with many World Heritage cultural
sites, a large number of international fairs, and strong creative
industries (all ranked within the top 10). The country has probably
benefitted from two important events in 2012: the Olympic Games
and the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. Although the outcome
is not yet fully reflected in the data, the United Kingdom has
leveraged the preparation of these events in terms of tourism
campaigns, generating interest in visiting the country and reinforcing
their already-solid ICT and air transport infrastructure (ranked
10th and 5th, respectively). The generally supportive policy environment,
ranked 8th, encourages the development of the sector, while the
country relies on an excellent human resources base (ranked 6th).
On a less positive note, the United Kingdom continues to receive
one of the poorest assessments for price competitiveness (138th),
in large part because it has the 2nd highest tax rate on tickets
and airport charges worldwide.[4]
2. According to the Tourism Alliance, the industry
has been at the forefront of the UK's economic recovery. Since
2007, revenue from inbound tourism has increased by 31% from £16
billion to £21 billion in 2013, creating an additional 90,000
jobs for the UK economy. This trend has continued, with spending
by inbound visitors up by a further three quarters of a billion
pounds in 2014.[5] On the
domestic side, revenue increased 16% to £18.8 billion in
2013[6] despite the pressure
on discretionary expenditure and is now 6% above the pre-recession
peak.[7] Figures published
by the Tourism Alliance on 16 March 2015 indicate that revenue
from domestic tourism has been falling more recently, however.[8]
The Office for National Statistics has recently calculated that
almost a third of the new jobs generated in the UK over the last
three years have been in tourism-related businesses. These jobs
are distributed relatively evenly throughout the UK and, unlike
many other industries, these jobs are spread across rural, urban
and seaside communities.
3. In 2013, a report from Deloitte and Oxford Economics
showed that tourism accounted for 9% of the UK's GDP and some
10% of UK employment. Bourne Leisure told us: "tourism,
which is the fourth largest service industry in the UK and employs
around 3.1 million people, contributed £127 billion to the
economy in 2013 (nine per cent of the UK's GDP in 2013)."[9]
Hospitality and Tourism is now the 4th largest employing industry
in the UK. More than 80% of people working in the sector are British.[10]
Tourism has also been at the forefront of tackling "problem
unemployment". Whereas UK businesses have an average of 19%
of their staff aged under 30, 39% of staff in tourism businesses
are under 30. Similarly, while businesses in the UK typically
employ only 9% of people from ethnic minorities, tourism businesses
employ 14%.[11]
4. These statistics speak for themselves; few parts
of the country can be untouched by the tourism economy. On 23
July, the Committee launched an inquiry into tourism. While tourism
in the devolved administrations is directly a matter for them,
there is a shared interest in promoting a thriving tourist industry
throughout the United Kingdom. An overarching theme of the inquiry
has been to examine ways in which the UK's tourism potential can
be developed for the benefit of both local economies and the country
as a whole. The Committee identified a number of issues in its
call for evidence:
· Encouraging tourism outside London and
the few other heavily visited cities to other parts of the United
Kingdom
· Consolidating and building on London's
success as a tourist destination
· Reversing a long-term decline in seaside
destinations
· Reducing regulatory burdens on business
· The application of taxes and fees to visitors
from overseas, for example in relation to VAT, Air Passenger Duty,
visa and other costs
· Visa and border arrangements
· Improving the competitiveness of hotel
accommodation in comparison to other countries
· Increasing skills and training within
the domestic tourism sector
· Assessing the success of campaigns such
as "GREAT" Britain
· Structural arrangements for tourism promotion,
including public funding for and the roles of Local Enterprise
Partnerships, VisitBritain, VisitEngland and similar organisations
in the rest of the UK
5. Written submissions were invited with a deadline
of Monday, 29 September 2014; over 80 were received. In their
submission, British Destinations told us they were "concerned
at the scale and breadth of the questions, most of which we feel
may be worthy of their own 3,000 word responses and some, singly
or combined, even their own inquiries. This is not meant as a
criticism, as we accept the need to start the process by addressing
as many potential headline issues together, if any are to be addressed
at all. We merely wish to make the point that if you are forced
to ask a good number of by necessity short but far-reaching questions
and those answering by necessity then respond with very short
concise answers, don't be too surprised if what you get is some
overly simplistic, seemingly contradictory views on what are very
complex, often competing tourism issues; issues that whilst increasingly
recognised are still not yet that commonly understood."[12]
While these concerns are clearly well-founded, a principal motivation
of our inquiry was to initiate a focused dialogue and debate in
a policy area that has, in our view, attracted too little attention,
not least in Whitehall.
6. Over a three month period from the end of October
2014, we held five oral evidence sessions with thirty witnesses
in total: they are listed at the end of the report and represent
a wide cross-section of expertise in tourism. Our inquiry also
prompted two visits: one to South West England and another to
Chatham Historic Dockyard. The first of these visits took place
over two days in January. On 12 January we held a panel discussion
event with 56 stakeholders in the tourism industry at the Royal
Albert Memorial Museum and Gallery in Exeter. This highly informative
event was organised by the Houses of Parliament Outreach Service
and it enabled us to listen to the concerns of business leaders,
local representatives and members of the public, among others.
On the following day we visited the Eden Project in Cornwall,
where we held a meeting with the Project's Chair, Co-Founder and
Executive Directors; this was followed by discussions with tourism
leaders and representatives for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
On 23 February we visited Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust, where
we met the Chairman and Chief Executive, together with Visit Kent
and Medway Council. We are grateful to all the people we heard
from and to those who provided written and oral evidence throughout
the course of our inquiry.
1 House of Commons Library Standard Note, Tourism:
statistics and policy, 6 January 2015 Back
2
Tourism Alliance (TOU0031) Back
3
Tourism Alliance, UK Tourism Statistics 2015, March 2015 Back
4
http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_TT_Competitiveness_Report_2013.pdf
Back
5
Tourism Alliance, UK Tourism Statistics 2015, March 2015 Back
6
Local Government Association (TOU0030), para 3 Back
7
Tourism Alliance (TOU0031) Back
8
Tourism Alliance, UK Tourism Statistics 2015, March 2015 Back
9
Bourne Leisure Limited (TOU0012), para 4.2 Back
10
Labour Force Survey, Office for National Statistics, 2012 Back
11
Tourism Alliance (TOU0031) Back
12
British Destinations (TOU0092), para 2 Back
|
