Recovery For U.K. Tourism Remains Fragile

LONDON— Tourism in the United Kingdom is staging a “fragile” recovery from the combined effects of foot-and-mouth disease and 9/11/01, according to the English Tourism Council (ETC). Its figures show that the number of U.K. residents taking vacations in England in the first five months of the year increased by 15% to 52.4 million when compared with the first five months of 2001. Although the results seem encouraging, they are still only on a par with 2000 levels, meaning the industry has lost out on the 3% growth it should have achieved last year. In fact, the number of vacations taken in England by U.K. residents fell by 7% during 2001. The ETC’s survey also reveals that only a small proportion of U.K. residents turned away from air travel to vacationing at home following the terrorist attacks last year. Nine out of 10 U.K. residents said 9/11 did not change their travel plans at all. Only one in 20 indicated they had switched from taking a trip abroad to taking a trip in the U.K. Business confidence took a slight hit in the second quarter of 2002 with 68% of the 300 businesses surveyed reporting they had already recovered from the impact of both 9/11 and foot-and-mouth disease. However, the proportion of businesses that did not expect to recover fully from the events of 2001 rose from 10% in the first three months of 2002 to 23% in the second quarter. Given those results, the ETC said that overall recovery remains fragile SOURCE: caterer.com