UK lags behind in tourist race

The number of overseas visitors to the UK and the amount they spend are both continuing to rise year on year, the latest Government figures reveal.

The number of visitors during January 1995 was up 18% on the same month in 1994, although February this year showed a smaller increase of 5%. The amount spent by these visitors was ahead 23% in January and 10% in February this year compared with 1994.

But this trend continues to disguise the UK's declining market share of worldwide tourism receipts, which has significant implications for our balance of trade.

Colin Clark, a director at hospitality consultancy Horwarth International, said that although the UK had enjoyed an 8.3% average rate of growth in the number of visitors per year for the past eight years, the UK's share of tourism receipts has declined 1.7 percentage points.

The slump, when combined with the rising amount spent by UK residents abroad, helped the UK balance of trade in tourism to reach a deficit of £3.82b in the first 11 months of 1994.