VisitBritain Gets a Kinder Cut at 5 Percent Jul 16th 2013, 17:00
The rumor was that the British government’s spending review would reduce VisitBritain’s budget by 12 percent. The organization was surprised with a mere 5 percent reduction in funding by the government for the fiscal year 2015-16. In 2012, Visit Britain attracted 31 million foreign visitors and collected $18.2 billion in revenues.
The cuts, part of a broader austerity plan, were directed at Great Britain’s Department of Culture, Media & Sports, under whose auspices VisitBritain resides. VisitBritain also relies on private partner support of $18.1 million from such companies as British Airways, EasyJet and others.
The U.S. market, the top earner for the country’s tourism, continued its decline in May, as arrivals for the first five months of the year were down 10 percent (though spending was up). U.S. traffic to Britain was flat in 2012 at 2.84-million visits and spent $3.7 billion. The U.S. remains in the top spot in terms of market value for inbound tourism and is one of the top three most important markets in terms of visitor numbers. According to Donald Martin & Company (DMC) visits from all foreign destinations are up 4 percent for May and up 2 percent for the year through May. Despite these trends, spending from all markets was up 10 percent for the first five months of the year.
Scott Foresman Science
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