British Tourism (Hansard, 11 September 2003)

§ Mr. Moss
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether her Department has undertaken research into the potential effect of the tolls and charges proposed for using cars on British roads, on the British tourism industry. [128575]

§ Mr. Caborn
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has undertaken no such research. DCMS recognises that transport is a key issue for UK tourism and officials from DCMS and the Department for Transport are in regular contact on transport issues. The revenues raised from local authority congestion charging schemes must be reinvested into local transport improvements and can help deliver a quality transport system that will benefit all sectors of the economy, including tourism.

§ Mr. Best
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment has been made of the provisional numbers of domestic and overseas tourists in England this summer. [128890]

§ Mr. Caborn
The latest provisional figures for the number of domestic tourism trips including an overnight stay in England show that over the three months April to June 2003 there were 31.4 million trips¹.
Figures for the number of overseas tourists visiting England are currently only available up to March 2003.² These figures show that over the three months January to March 2003 there were 4.3 million visits from overseas residents to England ¹ All figures for domestic tourism trips are taken from the UK Tourism Survey which is run by VisitBritain. Figures for domestic trips in England up to September 2003 will be available from early January 2004. ² All figures for overseas visits are taken from the International Passenger Survey which is run by the Office for National Statistics. Figures for overseas visits to England up to June 2003 will be available in October 2003, and data up to September 2003 will be available in January 2004.

§ Mr. Moss
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether her Department has undertaken research into the effect of the congestion charge on tourism in London. [128576]

§ Mr. Caborn
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has undertaken no such research. Responsibility for tourism policy in London has been devolved to the Mayor and the London Assembly. Likewise, congestion charging is the responsibility of the Mayor. An initial three-month assessment of the scheme has been published by Transport for London. A six-month report is due to be published in October.