Lord INGLEWOODMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the earnings from overseas tourists visiting this country in 1975 and how this figure compares with the earnings of overseas countries from British residents taking their holidays abroad.
§ The MINISTER of STATE, DEPARTMENT of INDUSTRY (Lord Beswick)My Lords, Her Majesty's Government do not publish forecasts of tourist earnings and expenditure. The latest available figures show that in 1974 overseas visitors to the United Kingdom spent £821 million during their visits here and that United Kingdom residents spent £692 million during visits abroad, giving a surplus on the travel account of the balance of payments of £129 million. Statistical information regarding these and other matters on tourism is published quarterly in the Business Monitor M6, Overseas Travel and Tourism.
Lord INGLEWOODMy Lords, may I ask the noble Lord when he expects the 1975 figures to be available, because those he quoted have been available for some time? They are the best that we have seen for a number of years, as against those of the previous year which cancelled one another out. It is important to know these figures at these times and I wonder when the noble Lord can let us have them?
§ Lord BESWICKMy Lords, I certainly cannot let the noble Lord have 834 them until the year 1975 is over. The figures are published quarterly and it will be in 1976, will it not?