Overseas Trade

Tourism

Britain pioneered the development of a professional tourism industry. Around 1.5 million people are employed in the industry in Britain, which contributes ₤30,000 million annually to the economy - about 5 per cent of GDP. Britain is one of the world's six leading tourist destinations and by the year 2000 tourism was expected to be the biggest industry in the world.

Between 1980 and 1990 the number of overseas visits to Britain increased by 50 per cent. In 1993 over 19 million overseas visitors came to Britain, spending ₤9,200 million. Business travel accounts for about a fifth of all overseas tourism revenue. An estimated 64 per cent of visitors came from Europe and 17 per cent North America. Britain's tourism attractions include theatres, museums, art galleries and historic houses, as well as shopping, sports and business facilities.

Domestic tourism was valued at ₤12,400 million in 1992. Around one-half of British residents taking their main holiday in Britain choose a traditional seaside resort. Short breaks, worth about ₤2,000 million in 1992, make up an increasingly significant part of the market, with shopping accounting for about a third of all expenditure on day trips. Scotland has several skiing resorts.

The largest hotel business in Britain is Forte, which has 344 hotels in the country. At the other end of the scale, numerous guest houses and small hotels have fewer than 20 rooms. Holiday camps offering full board, self-catering centres and holiday caravans are run by Butlins and Pontins; Center Parcs are enclosed holiday centres with swimming pools and other leisure facilities which are not affected by the vagaries of the British climate. Cuisine from virtually every country in the world is available in restaurants in London and elsewhere in Britain.

Most British holiday-makers wishing to go abroad buy 'package holidays' from travel agencies, where the cost covers transport and accommodation. The most popular package holiday destinations are Spain, France and Greece. Long-haul holidays to countries like the United States and Australia are becoming more popular as air fares come down. Winter skiing holidays to resorts in Austria, France, Italy and Switzerland and other countries continue to attract large numbers of Britons.

There are around 7,200 travel agencies in Britain. Although most travel agents are small businesses, there are a few very large firms, such as Lunn Poly and Thomas Cook, which have hundreds of branches.

Britain is fully committed to an open multilateral trading system. It exports more per head than the United States and Japan; overseas sales of goods and services are equivalent to about a quarter of its GDP. Invisible earnings of British companies place Britain in the top three countries in the international league table of overseas invisibles earners. It is the world's second biggest overseas investor and the leading destination for inward direct investment into the EU.

On 1 January 1994 the EU implemented an agreement with Austria, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden on the creation of the European Economic Area (EEA). The EEA forms a free trade area with 380 million consumers, where there is free movements of goods, services and capital. The new World Trade Organisation was set up on 1 January 1995, providing a sounder basis for international trade, including implementation measures agreed during the recently completed GATT Uruguay Round of negotiations.

In 1993 Britain's exports of goods were valued at about ₤121,400 million and its imports of goods at ₤134,600 million. Manufactures account for 82 per cent of visible exports with machinery and transport equipment contributing about 40 per cent of exports. Aerospace, chemicals and electronics have become increasingly significant export sectors, while textiles have declined in importance. The share of fuels in exports was 7 per cent in 1993. North Sea oil and gas production has now passed its mid-1980s peak, when exports of fuels accounted for over 20 per cent of total exports. In 1993 the surplus on trade oil amounted to a little under ₤2,500 million.

Britain's overseas trade is mainly, and increasingly, with developed countries. In 1972, the year before Britain joined the European Community, around a third of its trade was with the other 11 countries which made up the European Union in 1994. The proportion rose to around one-half in 1993. Western Europe as a whole takes three-fifths of Britain exports. EU countries accounted for seven of Britain's top 10 export markets and six of the 10 leading suppliers of goods to Britain in 1993. In 1990 Germany overtook the United States to become Britain's biggest overseas market; Germany is also Britain's largest single supplier. In 1993 it took 13 per cent of Britain's exports and supplied 15 per cent of its imports.

Exports to Japan, which is presently Britain's tenth largest export market, rose by 19 per cent in 1993. Japan has steadily increased its share of Britain's imports and now accounts for around 6 per cent. In 1993 there was also a sizeable increase - about 30 per cent - in Britain's exports to other expanding markets in the Asia-Pacific Rim. Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Korea, Taiwan and Thailand, together with the People's Republic of China and the Philippines, all showed strong growth in exports from Britain in 1993.

Дата добавления: 2014-01-05