§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of the impact of UK accommodation and hotel rates on decisions by foreign tourists visiting the EU to include the UK in their itinerary. [47977]
§ Mr. Chris SmithThe level of inbound tourism is influenced by a variety of factors, including changes in overseas economies and currency exchange rates. It is not possible to isolate precisely the impact of accommodation costs from other factors.
The British Tourist Authority is, however, able to monitor changes to incoming tourism traffic through market intelligence and surveys of tourists and of the accommodation stock. It has seen a significant fall in traffic from some Asian markets, but in markets with strong economies and whose currencies have not depreciated significantly against sterling there has been continued growth. This would suggest that accommodation costs have not been a significant factor in influencing foreign tourists to travel elsewhere. Indeed, in a recent independent survey conducted in the USA, more previous visitors to Europe said they would like to return to Britain than to any other country.