Government Office for London Annual Review 2001-2002 | Download the Complete Review in PDF Format here
Terrorism V Tourism
The downturn in the US economy, the ravages of foot and mouth and the aftermath of September 11th all dealt body blows to tourism, serving to remind us of its great importance not only to the country as a whole, but also to London.
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(The London Eye) |
Tourism is the capital's second largest and fastest growing industry. Valued at £8billion, it represents 8% of London's GDP and employs 275,000 people. Prior to 2001, the capital city attracted 28 million visitors each year. It is the lead destination within the UK, accounting for 50% of overseas expenditure. However, London's inbound tourism industry lost approximately £1.75 billion in 2001. In December of that year, 73% of the capital's tourism reported a post-September 11th downturn of around 25%. Working closely with the industry and London's Mayor, the Government took a number of urgent measures. GOL played a central role in paving the way for a total of £4 million to be allocated to the London Tourism Action Group (LTAG), which mounted an immediate and vigorous marketing campaign to encourage domestic tourists to visit London. |
LTAG was an initiative of the Mayor, and he asked the London Development Agency to bring together a wide range of organisations both private and public including: the British Tourist Association, London Tourist Board, London First, Business Link for London, West End trade associations and hotel groups. GOL was a member of the LTAG and sat on the Steering Group.
The highlights of the campaign were:
The West End Theatre Ticket Offer, promoted by the Mayor, which resulted in over 20,000 enquiries in its first 24 hours, selling 50,000 discounted tickets as well as increasing the number of restaurant meals and hotel beds sold to visitors.
A small business consultancy support package of £400,000, initial interest in the small business scheme was widespread.
A £500,000 three-month intensive domestic campaign that is calculated to have generated in-kind discounts of about £10 million offered by the tourism industry.
In addition, February saw the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport announcing Britain's biggest ever tourism campaign, targeted at bringing back one million extra visitors to Britain, increasing on last year - although spending is still down.
The challenge is for us all to maintain this recovery.
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Over the last five years, tourism related employment
has grown by 12% across Great Britain. A breakdown shows that is
has grown by 20% in London. The sector in London currently employs
276,000 people and accounts for 8% of the capital's GDP. There was a 12% drop in the number of visits to London in 2001. At the same time there was an 18% drop in visitor spending. This represents approximately 1,657,000 fewer visitors and £1.24billion. Source - (International Passenger Survey, inbound tourism figures for UK regions. Previous period was 2000. Results for 2001 are currently provisional. Final 2001 results should be available by September 2002.
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