The report provides detailed market analysis, information and insights, including:
? Historic and forecast tourist volumes covering the entire British travel and tourism sector
? Detailed analysis of tourist spending patterns in the UK
? The total, direct and indirect tourism output generated by each category within the British travel and tourism sector
? Employment and salary trends for various categories in the UK’s travel and tourism sector, such as accommodation, sightseeing and entertainment, foodservice, transportation, retail, travel intermediaries and others
? Detailed market classification across each category, with analysis using similar metrics
? Detailed analysis of the airline, hotel, car rental and travel intermediaries industries
Summary
The travel and tourism sector in the UK suffered from the global economic slowdown but then recovered with the hosting of Olympic and Paralympic Games in London in 2012. Rising demand from developing countries, particularly India and China, is expected to support the recovering sector. While the UK government makes regular promotional efforts to showcase the UK as a tourist destination, lack of price competitiveness may pose a threat.
Scope
This report provides an extensive analysis related to the tourism demands and flows in the UK:
? It details historical values for the British tourism sector for 2008-2012, along with forecast figures for 2013-2017
? It provides comprehensive analysis of the travel and tourism demand factors with values for both the 2008-2012 review period and the 2013-2017 forecast period
? The report provides a detailed analysis and forecast of domestic, inbound and outbound tourist flows in the UK
? It provides employment and salary trends for various categories of the travel and tourism sector
? It provides comprehensive analysis of trends in the airline, hotel, car rental and travel intermediaries industries, with values for both the 2008-2012 review period and the 2013-2017 forecast period
Key Highlights
? Given the recent turnarounds in global and domestic outlook, the UK’s economy is expected to grow by 1.3% in 2013 before improving to 2.4% in 2014. The economy is expected to grow robustly from the second half of 2013, with low real interest rates and improving business sentiment. The economy is forecast to grow in the range of 2.4?2.8% over 2015?2017, in line with improvements in domestic and external demand.
? The country moved up two positions from the 2011 ranking to stand in third place in the World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism (WEF T&T) Competitiveness Index 2013. The country ranked third in terms of cultural resources, fifth in terms of airport infrastructure, and sixth for human resources in the 2013 index.
? The UK is perceived as one of the most expensive destinations in the world. The World Economic Forum’s 2013 Travel and Tourism (WEF T&T) competitiveness index ranks the UK at 138th position (of 140 countries) in terms of price competitiveness. Government actions such as an increase in VAT from 17.5% to 20% in January 2011 have accentuated country’s poor price competitiveness.
? Britain’s five leading tourist attractions in 2011, based on figures from the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, shows that visitors were attracted to museums and art galleries. The British Museum was the most popular site among tourists, attracting around 5.8 million visitors, closely followed by the National Gallery with 5.3 million visitors, the Tate Modern with 4.9 million visitors and the National History Museum with 4.9 million visitors. The Science Museum in South Kensington was the fifth-most popular tourist attraction, with 2.9 million visitors in 2011.
? High costs and difficulty in obtaining visas continue to be barriers to international visitors, particularly for those from emerging economies such as China and India. Increases in visa and air passenger duty charges limit the amount of people from these economies who can afford to enter the country. The situation was further aggravated by increase in the UK’s VAT rates for accommodation and restaurants, which are twice as high as the average in mainland Europe.
? Spain was the most visited destination by UK residents in 2012 with a volume of 11.1 million. A strong British pound against the euro has made it cheaper for UK residents to travel to Europe. For UK travelers, Europe is easily accessible by air, rail and sea. Multiple low-cost airlines operate, which increases tourist traffic from the UK. Other key destinations for UK visitors are France, Ireland, Germany and Portugal, which together accounted for over 15.8 million UK visitors in 2012.
? According to UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) data 2012, easyJet dominated the UK airline industry with a market share of 43%. It carried 47.51 million passengers in 2012, utilizing 85% of its total seat capacity. British Airways had the second-largest market share of 30%, transporting 32.97 million passengers. The company operated at a capacity of 78.3% in 2012. The remaining airline industry was fragmented with smaller competitors such as Flybe representing a 6.3% share, Virgin Atlantic representing a 4.8% share, Monarch representing 4.1% and Jet2.com representing 3.7%.
? London is a draw for every type of hotel operation, and any hotelier seeking to establish a global presence would consider London to be a ?must have’ location. The strength and maturity of the city’s financial sector, and the country’s overall business climate, have been a driving force in the changing financial and operational structure of the hotel industry. Some of the top-rated hotels in London are The Halkin, Hotel 41, The Milestone Hotel, Egerton House, The Levin, Four Seasons Park Lane, Plaza on the River and 51 Buckingham Gate
? The importance of car rental in the UK can be seen through the success and growth of companies such as National Car Rental and Enterprise Rent a Car. National Car Rental, the UK’s largest rental company now has a fleet of over 40,000 vehicles and 170 branches. Car rental companies in the UK have their operations widespread across all the key towns and cities across the UK. They cater to the daily needs of the frequent airport traveler seeking choice and convenience.
? The internet has led to the launch of range of new tourism intermediaries. Tourism suppliers took advantage of the new opportunities offered and developed e-commerce applications by allowing users to access their reservation systems directly. A number of web-based travel agencies emerged, while offline agencies developed their online content.
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