HC Deb 28 July 1988 vol 138 cc476-8W
Mr. Austin Mitchell

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the Government's contribution to the British Tourist Authority and the three tourist boards in the current financial year; if he will break down the expenditure by end use; and if he will publish in theOfficial Report a table showing for each year since 1968 the percentage increase in the number of (i) US and (ii) other visitors together with an index of the Government contribution by way of grant-in-aid in terms of 1987 prices; based on 1968 as 100.

Mr. Lee

Estimated Government funding for the British Tourist Authority and the English, Scottish and Welsh tourist boards in the current financial year is as follows:

(£ million) Grant in Aid S4 Scheme
BTA 23.8
ETB 12.4 13.2
STB 6.8 3.1
WTB 5.9 3.5
Totals 48.9 19.8
Total Government Contribution 68.7

A breakdown of expenditure by end use will not be available until respective annual accounts are produced next year; the accounts for 1987–88 have recently been laid before the House.

The following table shows visit levels to the United Kingdom since 1968 with the percentage increase for United States and other visits for each year in parentheses. Visitor levels are in thousands.

Year Total visits United States visits Other visits
1968 4,828 851 3,977
1969 5,821 1,136 (+33) 4,685 (+18)
1970 6,692 1,567 (+38) 5,125 (+9)
1971 7,131 1,647 (+5) 5,484 (+7)
1972 7,459 1,716 (+4) 5,743 (+5)
1973 8,167 1,605 (-6) 6,562 (+14)
1974 8,543 1,411 (-12) 7,132 (+13)
1975 9,490 1,417 (0) 8,073 (+2)
1976 10,808 1,585 (+12) 9,223 (+14)
1977 12,281 1,814 (+14) 10,467 (+13)
1978 12,646 1,964 (+8) 10,682 (+2)
1979 12.486 1,719 (-12) 10,767 (+1)
1980 12,421 1,695 (-1) 10,727 (0)
1981 11,452 1,716 (+1) 9,736 (-9)
1982 11,636 1,726 (+1) 9,910 (+2)
1983 12,464 2,317 (+34 10,147 (+2)
1984 13,644 2,764 (+19) 10,881 (+7)
1985 14,449 3,166 (+15) 11,283 (+4)
1986 13,897 2,288 (-28) 11,609 (+3)
1987 15,445 2,800 (+22) 12,645 (+9)

Source: The International Passenger Survey.

The following table shows levels of grant in aid funding to BTA and the English, Scottish and Welsh tourist boards (excluding the section 4 scheme) since 1969–70, along with an index of this contribution using 1969–70 as 100, based on 1987–88 prices. It is not possible to use 1968 as a base as BTA and the national tourist boards were only established under the Development of Tourism Act 1969 and thus the 1969–70 financial year was the first year in which they were operating.

Grant-in-aid (£ million) in 1987–88 prices
Year £ million Index
1969–70 9.778 100
1970–71 22.599 231
1971–72 33.503 343
1972–73 31.525 322
1973–74 36.099 369
1974–75 33.131 339
1975–76 35.302 361
1976–77 36.557 374
1977–78 37.852 387
1978–79 40.062 410
1979–80 40.768 417
1980–81 40.632 416
1981–82 42.494 435
1982–83 47.142 482
1983–84 41.351 423
1984–85 41.773 427
1985–86 39.702 406
1986–87 44.460 455
1987–88 45.265 463

Mr. Austin Mitchell

To ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether the British Tourist Authority succeeded in raising the additional $800,000 it was originally seeking from the tourist trade in 1986.

Mr. Lee

The British Tourist Authority attracted £3.93 million in trade funding for marketing in 1986–87 in addition to the operations originally planned. Of this, £215,000 was in respect of a special advertising campaign to restore levels of visitors from North America. This was carried out in consultation with British Airways and other firms in the industry which also contributed substantial resources to related marketing efforts.

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