Tourism (Hansard, 25 June 1998)

§ Miss Geraldine Smith
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will estimate the number of jobs in British seaside resorts dependent on the tourism industry. [46721]

§ Mr. Nigel Jones
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will list by local authority area for each of the last 10 years for which figures are available (i) the value of tourism, (ii) the number of direct tourism jobs, (iii) direct tourism jobs as a percentage of the workforce, the number of indirect tourism jobs and the percentage of jobs sustained in full or (iv) part by tourism. [46507]

§ Mr. Tom Clarke
Spending by tourists across the UK was estimated to be £40 billion for 1996 and the estimate for 1997 will be available shortly. Employment in tourism-related industries was estimated at 1.7 million in the Summer of 1997. However, the national tourism and employment surveys are designed to give disaggregated figures down to regional level and, in some cases, county level and figures for the value of tourism and the number of jobs in tourism-related industries are not available for individual local authorities.

§ Miss Geraldine Smith
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what percentage of the United Kingdom's gross domestic product tourism accounts for. [46723]

§ Mr. Tom Clarke
Figures from the ONS show that the value added contribution of the tourism-related industries was £17,602m in 1995, the latest year for which figures are available. This accounted for 2.89 per cent. of the United Kingdom's gross domestic product of £608,090m.
These figures are likely to underestimate the whole value added contribution to GDP arising from the total of £38 billion for tourism spending in the UK in 1995. For example, spending on retail goods by tourists is not captured in the figures on the tourism-related industries, which refer only to those industries in which tourism accounts for a significant proportion of total spending. On the other hand, some of the value added in the tourism-related industries will have arisen from spending by residents rather than tourists.

§ Miss Geraldine Smith
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans the British Tourist Authority has to promote British seaside resorts as tourism destinations in the near future. [46722]

§ Mr. Tom Clarke
The BTA will continue to assist seaside resorts to promote themselves effectively as tourist destinations. BTA encourages targeted marketing to those groups most likely to be attracted to a particular resort; participation of individual destinations in larger overseas marketing partnerships; and involvement of such partnerships in overseas consumer and trade exhibitions. BTA will also continue to feature seaside resorts in the print it distributes and through public relations activities.