- Fewer shopping opportunities in the countryside compared to the other categories,
- Also the activities on offer in the countryside are usually free
The Economic Impact of Recreation and Tourism in the English Countryside
The English countryside attracts a huge amount of tourists every year. In 1998, visitors to the countryside spent £11.5 billion. This consequently generated 340,000 jobs. Visitor spending in the countryside rose in real terms by 14% between 1994 and 1998. This may lead to growth in the future because in 4 years in the 1990’s it rose by 14% then there is a very high possibility of it rising by even more going into the 21st century. The pattern of spending has changed, with a higher proportion coming from the day visitors and increased spending on tourist attractions and travel.
Visitor Activity and Spending in the Countryside:
The amount of overseas tourists that visit the countryside is very small compared to the amount of UK tourists and day visitors who visit the countryside. This means there is certainly room for potential growth from this certain category of tourists. The problem with overseas tourists not visiting the countryside is because they prefer to visit the cities and look at Britain’s history. All the old cities like Bath, London, York etc are very popular with overseas tourists because they enjoy sightseeing and looking at the UK’s historical monuments. The overseas tourists may be more inclined to visit the countryside after the London bombings because they are scared and put off by terrorist activity. Visit Britain should grab this opportunity to generate more money and tourism into the countryside by advertising Britain’s brilliant countryside and remote coastline. It could also advertise the National Parks around Britain and this may boost countryside tourism over the next 10 years from foreigners.
UK tourists who spend more than one day in the countryside is only 17%. This also has a lot more room for potential growth although there are some very big factors that may affect UK tourists not visiting the countryside. The weather cannot be guaranteed in the UK so people would prefer to go on holiday abroad where the weather is always hot and sunny. The other major factor is that people would prefer to pay for a cheap 2 week package holiday to somewhere like Tenerife than pay just as much money for one week in the Norfolk Broads or the Lake District.
Day visitors to the countryside in the UK generate most of the countryside’s tourism. A huge 77% of visitors are day visitors. I don’t think this figure can get much bigger as more people are coming to the countryside for weekend breaks in places like Centre Parcs, places in the National Parks etc. This is obviously the most important group of visitors out of all three groups because they make up 77% of all visitors to the countryside. These are the most important visitors to the countryside by a long way because they make up the majority of visitors and also spend a lot more money than the other 2 kinds of visitors.
Summary of all 3 different visitors and some useful figures:
UK Tourists: In 1998 UK tourists were estimated to have taken 19.6 million trips to the countryside. They stayed for a massive 73.2 million nights which I associated to them spending £2066 million. This represented 19% of total UK tourist spend in England. In evaluation I think that Visit Britain should advertise the country more and try and get people to spend more time and money in the countryside instead of in the cities and seaside resorts.
Overseas Tourists: On the basis that 2.78 million overseas tourist visits involved a stay in the countryside, which along with it associated £699 million of spending by overseas tourists in the countryside. This is only a very small percentage of the total spending in the UK by overseas tourists. Only 6% of the tourists from overseas visit the countryside. I think to improve this figure Visit Britain should advertise the British countryside and remote coastline a lot more abroad on things like TV, posters, in travel agents etc. This would improve the amount of visitor spend from overseas by a lot because there is a lot of potential growth from the 94% of overseas visitors who just visit UK cities.
Day visitors to the UK countryside: In 1998 day visits to the UK countryside and remote coastline survey indicated that 1,253 million people went on leisure day visits from home to the countryside, together with an estimated 90 million visits to open coastline. A total of 1,343 million day trips or 25% of all leisure trips in England. Expenditure associated with these trips amounted to £8,942 million. This category of tourists to the countryside is by far the most important because it generates three quarters of the total income into countryside tourism.
