The Office of National Statistics has published the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) for 2016.
The TSA provides information about the demand for goods and services associated with tourism activity (both inbound and domestic) by examining Government accounts for various sectors, for example restaurants, and attributing a percentage of this activity to tourism. The methodology is used to account for the wide ranging industries that tourists may engage with during their stay and the fact that tourism as an industry cannot be defined only by goods and services produced.
As a result, the figures can often differ from those generated by the International Passenger Survey and the Great Britain Tourism Survey which asks tourists directly about their expenditure.
MAIN FINDINGS
- Expenditure by inbound visitors to the UK rose slightly from £25.6 billion in 2015 to £25.9 billion in 2016, driven by a 1.4% increase in expenditure by international overnight visitors
- Domestic tourism expenditure increased from £118 billion in 2015 to £125.8 billion in 2016, supported by an 11.3% rise in spending by same-day visitors
- Outbound tourism expenditure rose to £43.8 billion in 2016, supported by a 12.2% increase in spending by overnight visitors
- Tourism direct employment (TDE) decreased by 4.1% to an estimated 1.54 million in 2016. Conversely, the number of enterprises increased by 7.9% to just under 241,000. Of this increase, 70.2% was in the food and beverage activities industry
- Tourism direct gross value added (TDGVA) was £63.8 billion in 2016, a marginal increase of 0.3% on the previous year
- Estimated TDGVA figures for 2017 show a 0.9% decrease, suggesting that the tourism industry declined during this year
The full Account can be downloaded at the link below.
