Recent Study: United Kingdom Tourism Report Q4 2012

New Consumer Goods research report from Business Monitor International is now available from Fast Market Research

by Bill Thompson

(WireNews+Co) - Boston, MA - 19 October 2012

The UK Tourism Report examines the long-term potential offered by the country's tourism industry, but also highlights that the weakness of the euro may put downward pressure on inbound arrivals from Europe, which is the UK's main source market. A great number of visitors will be travelling to the UK to attend or be a part of the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics in London. While tourism in 2012 will increase due to the amount of people from around the world attending the games - BMI forecasts 35.08mn tourist arrivals in 2012 - arrivals are also forecast to increase following the events.

The 'legacy effect' of the games, thanks to the media exposure and publicity associated with the Olympics (eg: 3.9bn people watched the games in Sydney in 2000) can last for up to a decade following the event. According to research by the national tourism agency VisitBritain, VisitLondon and Oxford Economics, in the postgames period in 2013-2017, a legacy effect of GBP1.27bn is forecast for the UK and of GBP0.88bn for London.

View Full Report Details and Table of Contents (http://www.fastmr.com/prod/451266_united_kingdom_tourism_report_q4_2012.aspx) (http://www.fastmr.com/prod/451266_united_kingdom_tourism_report_q4_2012.aspx)

UK transport group Stobart has expanded Southend Airport, which is a 50-minute train ride from London, into another feeder for the capital. The group is hoping to capitalise on the increase in air traffic associated with the Olympic Games. Stobart has completed the construction of a new railway station, control tower and runway extension, while the airport hotel construction is expected to be complete in August. Stobart forecasts Air Arann to carry 300,000 passengers a year to Southend. In April, easyJet began flights from the airport.

After dropping in 2009 to US$27.13mn, tourist expenditure started to climb back up in 2010, reaching US$29.54mn by the end of the year. BMI calculates expenditure by tourists in the UK to continue to increase, from US$31.94mn in 2011 to US$32.92 in 2012, before reaching over US$43mn by 2016. Also forecast to increase is tourism expenditure's contribution to the UK's GDP. In 2010, tourism expenditure accounted for 2.03% of GDP. It was 2.08% in 2011 but is expected to drop to 2.07% in 2012. It is then forecast to increase to 2.32% by 2016.

Europe is the UK's main regional source market for inbound tourism. The region is projected to account for 25.30mn tourists in 2011 and 26.99mn in 2012. This is predicted to increase to 34.84mn by 2016. In second and third place are North America and the Asia Pacific region. In 2012, 4.41mn tourists are expected to visit the UK from North America, while 3.86mn will come from Asia Pacific. By 2016, Asia Pacific arrivals are forecast to outpace North American arrivals at 5.10mn compared to 4.49mn.

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