Posted on 10/31/2002 1:36:00 AM PST by MadIvan
The number of foreign tourists visiting the UK saw its biggest fall in 20 years in 2001, official figures show.
The impact of September 11 and the foot-and-mouth outbreak contributed to the sharp decline, which saw a £1.5bn drop in the amount spent by visitors to the UK.
Visitor numbers fell 9% to 22.8m.
To make matters worse for the struggling UK tourist trade, the same period saw more Britons than ever choosing to holiday abroad.
This saw the tourism deficit - the difference between the amount spent by visitors to the UK compared to that spent by Britons abroad - rise to a record £14bn.
The figures, produced by the Office for National Statistics, show a particularly steep decline in the number of tourists from the US - traditionally the highest-spending visitors to the UK.
An ONS spokesman said the foot-and-mouth outbreak which affected much of rural Britain during the first half of last year had contributed to both the decline in overseas visitors and the increase in Britons holidaying abroad.
The spokesman said the figures up to August for 2002 had shown some improvement on 2001, but were still below 2000's level.
"We would hope that the travel balance of payments deficit will be lower this year, but it is too early to say."
Ken Kelling, spokesman for the English Tourism Council, which promotes domestic tourism in England, told BBC News Online the figures were disappointing, but that efforts were already underway to attract British and foreign tourists to holiday in the UK.
He said: "Foot-and-mouth and September 11 had a serious impact on tourism here, foot-and-mouth on our image overseas and September 11 on people's willingness to travel.
"Visitors from nearby European countries, Spain, Germany etc, have come back quite quickly, but it has not been so quick with the high-spending US and Japanese markets."
He said that as well as encouraging foreign tourists to return, it was important to encourage Britons to holiday in their own country.
"We had a stark reminder last year that four out of every five pounds spent on tourism in this country is spent by people who live here."
The figures are released as the British Tourist Authority unveils a long-term plan to increase the UK's income from tourism.
The BTA's "Leading the World to Britain" campaign aims to build on emerging markets in eastern Europe and the Far East, as well as putting more emphasis on the distinctiveness of Britain's three nations, and increasing UK tourism's internet presence.
In exchange for some cheese, some wine, yes. O.K. I'm a weak man, I'm not proud of it, alright?
There's tons to see in the UK, but for a few more bucks an American can continue on to Southern France
You actually want to give money to the French?
Do that and they may just surrender.
;-)
Despite what we here in the states see in the press, the overwheliming majority of Brits don't spend their days lofting red banners and chanting anti-American slogans. They go to work, worry about their kids, and try to be decent folk.
And, one other thing. I personally don't feel safe in jurisdictions that disarm individuals. Another reason to avoid socialist "workers' paradises" like Britain, Taxachussetts, Maryland, etc.
Quite frankly, it doesn't bother me if you don't visit however. Given your perspective, it looks like you simply cannot enjoy a place for what it is, rather than dwelling on whatever political content that offends you.
Ivan
Now I'm worried about what your press is saying about us!
Regards, Ivan
The poliltical climate of a place is part of the place. It is an undivisable part of the place. All of the stuff that goes to make up a place goes together. You cannot separate one aspect and ignore the other. And you're right. I cannot enjoy something without its context. As an example, I can't stand to watch Hunt for Red October because it stars the odious statist and Clinton worshiper, Alex Baldwin, even though it is a pretty decent movie.
No matter what you spend or where you spend it, at the present time, it will end up in the hands of government, and to pay the salaries of those whose work you don't like.
This is true; however, the British government is a particularly egregious example of a totalitarian state with high tax rates and numerous arbitrary and capricious restrictions on its subjects. Example - didn't a shopkeeper get sent to jail recently for weighing his goods in pounds an ounces rather than grams and kilograms? Example - didn't an elderly farmer get sent to jail for defending himself with a shotgun from a couple of professional thugs when the thug (surviving) was given a slap on the wrist? Example - didn't the British government help the surviving thug sue the selfsame elderly farmer? I would not enjoy a vacation in a country where this sort of idiocy is not only the norm, but is constantly increasing.
Britain may have marvelous scenery and culturally edifying museums, but it also has one of the most hypocritical, arrogant and oppressive governments in the Western hemisphere, and I cannot turn off the part of my mind that is aware of this fact. Further I cannot help but think that most of the boobs I see walking around places like this want it this way
the ONLY places I worried about crime in Britain were in London, when there was a bomb scare in our subway station, and in Liverpool when a couple scousers didn't like the way they thought my friend was lookin at them ;)
One of my fondest memories for my wife and myself, was our honeymoon trip to London in January of 2000. In particular I like to say that when we first landed in London, Klintoon was President, when we took off to return to the states, he was not President.
My wife would appreciate any links you might have for good places to take high tea.
You can say a lot of things about Britain- but it is not a totalitarian state. That's just completely over the top to compare Britain and it's Parliament to China, Cuba, Iraq, Zimbabwe etc. People are free here.
Sure they are. They're free in Cuba too in that they don't live in prisons. Open a shop and sell something that you weigh in pounds and ounces. Go buy a handgun for self protection. No, never mind the handgun. Go buy a can of pepper spray for self protection. What, can't do it? I guess you aren't free to do some fundamental things like effectively defend yourself from agression there.
We aren't especially free in the USA. (Try building on your property if the EPA has declared it a "wetland") But you sure are a hell of a lot less free there than we are here.
You remind me of the story of the old black guy that was walking through the cemetary reading the inscriptions on the tombstones. He came to one that said "Not dead but sleeping" His comment was "That boy ain't foolin' nobody but hisself."
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