HC Deb 03 November 2003 vol 412 cc453-4W
Mr. Sanders

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans she has to use the creative industries in the promotion of British tourism(a) within the United Kingdom and (b) abroad. [135834]

Mr. Caborn

VisitBritain promotes Britain overseas as a tourist destination and it promotes England to the domestic market. The creative industries are an important element in its campaigns. VisitBritain's website promotes creative events taking place across the country such as opera, ballet, film, exhibitions and arts festivals. VisitBritain's current European "Short Breaks" campaign has a strong cultural message, taking advantage of the European Capital of Culture competition. Other examples of campaigns include a "movie map" which uses film locations to encourage tourism, campaigns based around individual films such as Harry Potter and Johnny English, the sponsorship of a forthcoming Britain-related fashion show in Argentina and the launch of an animated film in Japan based on the famous 'Moving Castles' Novel by Dianna Wynne Jones. Domestically, VisitBritain has worked with Warner Classics to produce an 'Essentially England' CD-Rom which uses classical music to promote tourism.

Mr. Sanders

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many foreign visitors she estimates visited(a) Bath, (b) York, (c) Liverpool, (d) Snowdonia, (e) Edinburgh, (f) Stratford upon Avon and (g) London in 2002–03. [135838]

Mr. Caborn

The following table shows the number of visits made by foreign residents to these places in 2002, since data on visits to areas around the UK are produced by calendar year.

Area Number of visits made by foreign residents in 2002
Bath 205,000
York 230,000
Liverpool 193,000
Snowdonia Not available
Area Number of visits made by foreign residents in 2002
Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire (includes Snowdonia) 21,000
Edinburgh 849,000
Stratford Upon Avon 110,000
London 11,603,000

Note:

Figures for Snowdonia alone are not available, but figures are available for the combined regions of Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire, which contain Snowdonia.

Source:

International Passenger Survey, National Statistics