Market Intelligence
Welcome to TSE's tourism facts page. Here you will find the latest regional data on tourism volume and value, accommodation occupancy, attraction visits and visitor profiles
For more information simply click on the menu links.
If you would like more information please contact research
Key Tourism Facts
- Tourism is one of the region's largest industries generating over £10 billion per annum in terms of visitor expenditure, equivalent to approximately 7% of regional GVA.
- Tourism provides employment for more than 225,000 people (around 8% of the region's workforce).
- Tourism brings 180 million day visitors, 17.9 million domestic overnight visitors and 4.5 million overseas visitors to the South East each year.
HEADLINES February 2009
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Hotels and business centre are preparing themselves for a rough ride this year
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Holidays are seen as a necessity and many Britons are cutting back on everyday spending in reluctance to forego holidays
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With daily news of businesses struggling and the now offical term of 'recession' you may wonder what the future holds for your business. To help you unravel how the economic downturn will affect your business it is critical that you arm yourself with facts, figures and findings from the plethora of surveys designed to measure the trading environment.
In addition to the surveys carried by Tourism South East, there are a number of wesbites which carry features on the economic downturn and publish surveys on business confidence and other relevant news.
Examples include:
- www.newmediatrendwatch.com
- www.travelmole.com/news
- www.businesstravelworld.com
- www.pwc.co.uk
- www.hospitalitynet.org/news
- www.hotelnewsresource.com
- www.travelindustrywire.com
- www.hotelmarketing.com
- www.e-hospitality.com
Amid all the negativity surrounding the economy, it's vital to remember that for most people, life goes on - they're still spending in the shops, still paying their mortgage, and still dreaming about their summer holiday.
- Small and medium-sized South East firms are showing considerable resilience to the ecomonic downturn.
- Thirty-three percent of SME's in the region reported that the economic situation has already had a negative impact on their business.
- Forty-four percent thought it was too early to tell the effects of the downturn. Nineteen percent reported they were unaffected and 5% claimed a mainly positive effect.
- Three percent of SME's are preparing to close their businesses (equivalent of about 10,000 businesses).
- The most common direct impacts reported are lower sales, lower customers numbers and an increase in costs.
- SME's are having to plan for the effects of the downturn. Many (69% of those who have already been affected) are prepared for a reduced turnover / profit loss. Further businesses are putting expansion plans on hold, reducing staff levels and/or reducing training budgets.
- Eighty-five percent of SME's that have been negatively effected are proactively trying to reduce the negative impacts of the downturn by revising business plans, cutting costs, using cheaper suppliers and reducing business journeys.
- Although business optimism is at its lowest level since the survey began in November 2005, there is still a higher proportion of SME's anticipating growth.
Over recent years the internet has become an increasingly important means for tourism businesses to reach prospective customers and it is likely to account for an even greater volume of customers in years to come. Therefore, throughout December, TSE is conducting telephone interviews with various tourism businesses across the region about their usage of the internet. The aim of the project is to gain an understanding of the current use of information and communicative technology. It will provide TSE with a baseline of the relative use of the internet by different size and type of businesses allowing a measure of progress to date and the size of the challenge ahead. TSE will be able to shape future programmes by identifying barriers currently preventing businesses from fully utilising the available resources. TSE will support and advise businesses on potential ways to overcome their limitations and help them maximise the use of the available information technology.
