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Tourism in the United Kingdom

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Tourism in the United Kingdom is big business! But why is tourism here so important and why does it matter? Read on to find out…

Geography of the United Kingdom

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The United Kingdom is a sovereign country located off the northwest coast of continental Europe. It is made up of four countries: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

The country has a total area of approximately 242,495 square kilometres and a population of around 68 million people. The capital city is London, which is located in England.

The geography of the United Kingdom is diverse, with a mix of flat, low-lying land, rolling hills, and rugged mountains. Most of the country is covered by lowland plains, with the highest points in the north and west.

Scotland and Wales are known for their rugged mountain ranges, including the Highlands of Scotland and the Snowdonia and Brecon Beacons ranges in Wales. England has several major rivers, including the Thames and the Severn, which flows through the western part of the country and is one of the longest rivers in the UK.

The United Kingdom has a temperate maritime climate with mild, damp winters and cool summers. It is heavily influenced by the Atlantic Ocean, with a prevailing southwesterly wind bringing frequent rainfall to the western and northern parts of the country. The south and east are generally drier and sunnier.

The country has a long coastline, with many popular beaches and seaside towns. The most famous landmark is probably Stonehenge, an ancient prehistoric monument located in the south of England.

Overall, the geography of the United Kingdom is varied and picturesque, with a mix of bustling cities and stunning natural landscapes.

Tourism is one of the major industries in the United Kingdom, contributing significantly to the country’s economy. In 2019, the UK welcomed 40.9 million visitors, who spent a total of £28.4 billion.

Tourism in United Kingdom

The country offers a wide range of tourist attractions, from historic landmarks to natural wonders, cultural experiences, and modern entertainment options. Some of the most popular tourist destinations in the UK include:

  • London: The capital city is a vibrant and diverse metropolis with an array of attractions, including the British Museum, the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, and many others.
  • Edinburgh: The Scottish capital is well known for its rich history, stunning architecture, and cultural festivals, including the annual Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
  • Stonehenge: The ancient prehistoric monument located in Wiltshire is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a popular tourist destination.
  • Lake District: This stunning region in northwest England offers some of the most scenic landscapes in the country, with picturesque lakes, hills, and valleys.
  • Scottish Highlands: The rugged and remote region of the Scottish Highlands offers breathtaking mountains, lochs, and wildlife, and is a popular destination for outdoor enthusiasts.

The tourism industry in the UK supports over 3 million jobs and generates revenues for businesses in the transport, accommodation, food, and entertainment sectors. The government also invests in promoting tourism, with initiatives to increase accessibility to destinations and attractions and support sustainable tourism practices.

Now lets take a look at some statistics that emphasise the scale of tourism in the United Kingdom:

1 – In 2019, the UK welcomed 40.9 million visitors.

2 – The total expenditure by tourists in the UK in 2019 was £28.4 billion ($39.1 billion).

3 – The tourism industry in the UK supports over 3 million jobs.

4 – In 2019, the top three countries of origin for international visitors to the UK were the United States, France, and Germany.

5 – The most popular tourist activity in the UK in 2019 was shopping, followed by visiting historical sites and attending cultural events.

6 – London is the most visited city in the UK, welcoming around 20 million visitors in 2019.

7 – The tourism industry in the UK accounted for 7.1% of the country’s GDP in 2019.

8 – In 2019, domestic tourism in the UK generated nearly three times as much revenue as international tourism.

9 – The COVID-19 pandemic led to a 76% fall in international visitor numbers to the UK in 2020 compared to the previous year.

10 – The British Museum was the most visited attraction in the UK in 2019, followed by the National Gallery and the Tate Modern.

The United Kingdom is home to a variety of popular tourist attractions, ranging from historic landmarks and museums to natural wonders and entertainment venues. Here are some of the most visited attractions in the UK:

  • British Museum: The British Museum, located in London, is one of the largest and most comprehensive museums in the world. It contains over 8 million exhibits, including Egyptian mummies, the Rosetta Stone, and the Parthenon sculptures.
  • Tower of London: The Tower of London, also located in London, is a historic fortress that has served as a royal palace, prison, and place of execution. Visitors can explore its many exhibits and learn about its fascinating history.
  • Stonehenge: Stonehenge, located in Wiltshire, is an ancient prehistoric monument that dates back over 4,000 years. It is believed to have been built as an astronomical observatory, a burial site, or a religious centre.

Tourism in United Kingdom

  • Edinburgh Castle: Edinburgh Castle is a historic fortress and royal residence located in Edinburgh, Scotland. Visitors can explore its many museums and exhibits, including the Crown Jewels of Scotland and the Stone of Destiny.
  • Buckingham Palace: Buckingham Palace, located in London, is the official residence of the British monarch. Visitors can watch the Changing of the Guard ceremony and explore the palace’s many state rooms and gardens.
  • The National Gallery: The National Gallery, located in London, is one of the world’s most famous art galleries, housing over 2,300 paintings from the 13th to 19th centuries, including works by Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent van Gogh, and Rembrandt.
  • The Lake District: The Lake District, located in northwest England, is a scenic region of hills, mountains, and lakes that is popular with hikers and nature enthusiasts. It is also home to many historic sites and quaint villages.
  • The Scottish Highlands: The Scottish Highlands, located in northern Scotland, are known for their rugged mountains, dramatic coastlines, and stunning natural scenery. Visitors can explore the region’s many historic castles, quaint villages, and outdoor activities.
  • The Roman Baths: The Roman Baths, located in Bath, England, are a well-preserved Roman bathhouse and temple complex that date back to the 1st century AD.
  • Liverpool’s Albert Dock: Liverpool’s Albert Dock, located in Liverpool, England, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to many museums, galleries, shops, and restaurants, as well as the Beatles Story museum.

The United Kingdom offers a diverse range of attractions and experiences that appeal to various types of tourists. Here are some of the most popular types of tourism in the UK:

1 – Cultural tourism: The UK is rich in history and culture, with many museums, art galleries, historic landmarks, and festivals. Cultural tourism in the UK includes visiting museums like the British Museum, attending cultural festivals like the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and exploring historic landmarks like Stonehenge.

2 – Heritage tourism: With its rich history and cultural heritage, heritage tourism is a popular type of tourism in the UK. Visitors can explore historic sites like castles, palaces, and cathedrals, like Buckingham Palace, Edinburgh Castle, and Westminster Abbey.

3 – City tourism: Cities like London, Edinburgh, and Liverpool are popular tourist destinations in the UK, with a range of attractions, entertainment, and amenities. Visitors can enjoy shopping, dining, and entertainment, as well as cultural and historic sights.

4 – Nature tourism: The UK is home to stunning natural landscapes like the Scottish Highlands, Lake District, and the Yorkshire Dales. Nature tourists can enjoy outdoor activities like hiking, biking, and wildlife watching.

Tourism in United Kingdom

5 – Coastal tourism: With its long coastline, the UK offers many seaside destinations and attractions, like Blackpool, Brighton, and Skegness. Coastal tourism includes beaches, water sports, and seaside resorts.

6 – Culinary tourism: The UK’s diverse culinary scene is a draw for many foodies. Tourists can enjoy traditional British cuisine like fish and chips, roast dinners, and afternoon tea, as well as international cuisine and street food.

7 – Sports tourism: The UK has a strong sporting culture, with many iconic venues like Wembley Stadium and Lord’s Cricket Ground. Sports tourists can attend sporting events like football matches, horse racing, and tennis tournaments.

Tourism is a significant contributor to the UK’s economy, generating income and employment opportunities across various sectors of the economy. Here are some of the key economic impacts of tourism in the UK:

  • GDP contribution: In 2019, the tourism industry contributed £145.9 billion ($201.5 billion) to the UK’s GDP, accounting for 7.1% of the country’s economy.
  • Employment: The tourism industry supported over 3.1 million jobs in the UK in 2019, accounting for 10% of total employment in the country.
  • Tax revenues: The tourism industry generated £31.6 billion ($43.7 billion) in tax revenues for the UK government in 2019, including income tax, VAT, and other taxes.
  • Foreign exchange earnings: Tourism is an important source of foreign exchange earnings for the UK, contributing to the country’s balance of payments. In 2019, international tourism generated £28.4 billion ($39.1 billion) in foreign exchange earnings.
  • Regional development: Tourism contributes to the development of regional economies in the UK, with many local businesses benefiting from tourism revenues. In 2019, tourism generated £78.3 billion ($108 billion) in regional gross value added (GVA).
  • Infrastructure investment: The tourism industry requires significant infrastructure investment in transport, accommodation, and other services, which can generate additional economic activity and employment.
  • Export earnings: Tourism is an important export industry for the UK, contributing to the country’s global trade. In 2019, international tourism generated £28.4 billion ($39.1 billion) in export earnings.

Tourism can have significant social impacts on communities in the UK, both positive and negative. Here are some of the key social impacts of tourism in the UK:

Positive impacts: Tourism in the United Kingdom can bring new cultural experiences, increase awareness of local traditions and customs, and promote intercultural exchange. It can also enhance community pride, create a sense of place, and bring cultural diversity to the local community.

Employment and income: Tourism in the United Kingdom can create jobs and income opportunities for local people. It can also contribute to poverty reduction by creating employment opportunities for disadvantaged groups, such as women and youth.

Improving community infrastructure: Tourism in the United Kingdom can provide funding for community infrastructure, such as new transport links, public facilities, and public spaces. These upgrades can benefit both local residents and visitors alike.

Negative impacts: Tourism in the United Kingdom can also have negative social impacts, such as overcrowding, congestion, and increased crime rates in tourist areas. It can also lead to displacement of local communities, particularly in areas where tourism development is extensive.

Environmental impact: Tourism in the United Kingdom can contribute to environmental degradation and loss of cultural heritage, particularly when infrastructure development is extensive.

Effects on social behaviours: In areas where tourism is the primary activity, the tourism industry can influence the cultural values, attitudes and behaviours of the host population, particularly if tourists have different cultural values and norms.

Therefore, it is important to implement policies and initiatives that promote sustainable tourism practices that minimise the negative impact of tourism and enhance its positive impact. This involves collaboration between policymakers, the tourism industry, and local communities to ensure that tourism development is balanced and preserves the unique cultural heritage and environmental resources of the UK.

Tourism in United Kingdom

Tourism in the United Kingdom can have significant environmental impacts on the UK’s natural resources, wildlife, energy, and climate change. Here are some of the key environmental impacts of tourism in the UK:

  • Carbon footprint: Tourism in the United Kingdom is responsible for a significant amount of greenhouse gas emissions, which contributes to global climate change. Travel by air and road transportation, as well as accommodation and food production, are major sources of carbon emissions.
  • Water resources: Tourism in the United Kingdom can lead to water consumption, especially during peak tourist season, which can put a strain on local water resources. It can also lead to waste water pollution, including sewage discharge from accommodation and tourist facilities.
  • Waste management: Tourism in the United Kingdom generates a significant amount of waste, including food waste, plastic waste, and litter. Improper waste management can harm habitats, wildlife and pose risks to public health.
  • Biodiversity: Tourism in the United Kingdom can have negative impacts on local biodiversity, including the degradation of natural habitats, destruction of ecosystems, and disturbance of wildlife.
  • Energy consumption: Tourism in the United Kingdom generates high levels of energy consumption, including lighting and heating of accommodation, transportation, and tourist facilities.
  • Infrastructure development: Tourism infrastructure, such as airports, highways, hotels, and resorts, can lead to degradation of natural areas, habitats, and fragile ecosystems, like coastal or mountainous areas.

Therefore, the UK government, industry and local communities have implemented sustainable tourism practices to minimise the environmental impact of tourism in the country. This includes initiatives to reduce carbon emissions, promote renewable energy, enhance waste management practices, improve water resources, and support biodiversity conservation. The use of eco-tourism, sustainable tourism certification, and Green Tourism Business Scheme (GTBS) for businesses is also promoted to help mitigate the environmental impact in the tourism industry.

Tourism in United Kingdom

Now that we know a bit more about tourism in the United Kingdom, lets answer some of the most common questions on this topic:

1 – What are the visa requirements for visiting the UK?

Answer: Visa requirements depend on your nationality and the purpose of your visit. Citizens of many countries do not require a visa for tourist visits of up to six months.

2 – What is the best time to visit the UK?

Answer: The UK has a temperate climate, with mild temperatures year-round. However, the summer months (June-August) are generally considered the best time to visit, with longer days and warmer temperatures.

3 – What are some must-see attractions in the UK?

Answer: There are many famous attractions to see in the UK, including Stonehenge, Buckingham Palace, Edinburgh Castle, and the British Museum.

4 – What is the currency used in the UK?

Answer: The currency used in the UK is the pound sterling (£).

5 – Is it safe to travel to the UK?

Answer: Yes, the UK is generally considered a safe destination for tourists. However, visitors should take appropriate precautions and remain vigilant in crowded areas or tourist spots.

6 – How can I get around the UK?

Answer: The UK has a well-developed transportation network, including trains, buses, and taxis. London also has an extensive subway system called the Underground, or “Tube”.

7 – What types of food can I expect to try in the UK?

Answer: The UK is known for dishes like fish and chips, roast beef, shepherd’s pie, and bangers and mash, as well as traditional afternoon tea.

8 – What are some popular shopping destinations in the UK?

Answer: London has many famous shopping districts, including Oxford Street, Bond Street, and Covent Garden. Other popular shopping destinations include Manchester, Birmingham, and Brighton.

9 – What is the time zone in the UK?

Answer: The UK uses Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and observes daylight saving time from late March to late October.

10 – What is the emergency number in the UK?

Answer: The emergency services number in the UK is 999

As you can see, tourism Yellowstone is big business! However, it is vital that tourism here is managed effectively to ensure that sustainable tourism principles are adopted.

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Welcome to my England Travel Guide – on this page you will find links to all my travel-related posts about England. This includes where to visit, what to see, tours and tickets to buy, books to read, and lots of resources and inspiration for your trip.

England is the largest country in the UK and if you are flying into London will be the first country you arrive in. Although I love London there is so much more to England than just its capital city though choosing where to visit can be overwhelming.

This guide will help you decide which destinations in England to visit so you can plan your trip and itinerary and include the places that most appeal to you.

England Travel Guide areas on a map.

  • England is made up of 9 regions. These regions are further divided into 48 counties .
  • The largest county in England is Yorkshire and the smallest is Rutland.
  • The largest cities in England (after London) are Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield, Liverpool , Leeds and Bristol .
  • With a population of approximately 56 million, England has more than 84% of the total UK population living within its borders.

Popular destinations in England

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London is the capital of England and the UK. It is one of the most visited cities in the world and therefore has an entire section devoted to it. Pop over to my London Travel Guide for all the information you need to plan your visit to this historic and fascinating city.

Guides to places of historical interest in England

If you are particularly interested in history you will discover many places of historical significance in England. This includes castles, palaces, ancient ruins and monuments and more.

In this section, you will find my articles dedicated to places of historical interest in England.

  • 7 Magnificent English Castles to visit near London
  • English fairytale castle hotels
  • Guide to Tudor Sites in England
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You can find everything you need to know from budget tips to packing lists to transport guides in my step-by-step UK trip planning guide .

Here are some quick links to everything you may want to know before travelling to the UK

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When is the best time of year to visit England?

If you are wondering when is the best time of year to plan your visit to England it may depend on a number of factors. The weather in England varies with the seasons and the number of hours of daylight also changes throughout the year.

England experiences its warmest and lightest days in the summer months of June, July and August and the colder, darker days during December, January and February.

The temperatures also vary as you move further north in England with London generally a few degrees warmer than the North East for example.

For more information to help choose the best time of year to plan your visit to England read my in-depth article – ‘When is the best time of year to visit the UK?’ which examines each season as well as detailing popular events on a month by month basis.

England Itinerary Suggestions

On this website, you will find suggested itineraries to help you plan your trip to numerous destinations around England and the UK.

These include multi-destination and city itineraries:

  • See the Best of Britain by Train (14 day itinerary)
  • One day itinerary for Bath – how to see the best of Bath if you only have one day to spend (can also be extended to 2 days)
  • Liverpool itinerary for Beatles fans
  • Cornwall Road Trip Itinerary

Best day tours and tickets for popular attractions and landmarks in England

There are so many tours to choose from we have created some guides to our pick of the best. You will also find various day tours recommended in each of the destination travel guides for England.

  • Best escorted tours of the UK 2023/4

Below are just a selection of some of the tours offered by Get Your Guide (an online marketplace where tour operators list available tours for destinations worldwide) and one of the tour companies we use when we travel.

Accommodation options in England

There is a vast range of accommodation to choose from in England. In order to help you find the best accommodation, I have created detailed guides based on personal experience, customer reviews, location, facilities and price.

Whether you are looking for the best-priced quality hotels in England, budget accommodation, boutique hotels, luxury accommodation, a cosy cottage, or even a castle to stay in you will be able to find the very best option for your trip, travel style, group size and budget in my accommodation guide for England .

⭐️ Click here for a range of accommodation options in England

How can I get around England?

There are a variety of transport options you can choose to get around England including using public transport such as trains or buses.

Hiring a car and embarking on a road trip around England and the UK is a popular choice or if you are pushed for time there are regional flights available.

If you are planning to rent a car we recommend the Discover Cars website where you can compare different providers and find the best deal for your trip.

You can find out more about the different transport options in my transport guide to the UK.

✅ 15 tips for UK train travel

✅ Renting a car in the UK – everything you need to know

Travel Insurance

It is important to ensure you are covered when you travel and taking out good travel insurance is essential.

✅ Read our guide to why you need travel insurance for your trip.

Travel books about England

There are a wide variety of travel guidebooks available for England and the UK. Below is a selection of travel books for England.

For a complete selection read my article about the best UK travel guide books available for 2021 and beyond. If fiction is more to your taste you will enjoy my selection of the best books set in England .

Articles on UK tourism

Displaying all articles.

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E-bikes are freewheeling through rain and over hills, with huge promise for sustainable transport in rural tourist areas

Ian Philips , University of Leeds

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Does British tourism really need the royal family?

Ross Bennett-Cook , University of Westminster

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Bank holidays: how a day off work affects the economy

Edward Thomas Jones , Bangor University

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How the pandemic has changed holidaymaking in Britain

Anya Chapman , Bournemouth University

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The sex life aquatic: how moving from land to water led to the surprisingly touchy courtship of sea snakes

Jenna Crowe-Riddell , University of Michigan

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How fans of Outlander and Game of Thrones can help the UK tourist industry recover

Rebecca Williams , University of South Wales

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England wins travel guide plaudits – but what about the rest of the UK?

Bailey Ashton Adie , Solent University

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‘No deal’ Brexit: what it could mean for British tourists and air travel

Sally Everett , Anglia Ruskin University

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Wales’s tourism problem is down to a disconnect with its own people

Euryn Rhys Roberts , Bangor University

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Travel and tourism in the United Kingdom - statistics & facts

How many tourists visit the uk, travel planning and behavior of british tourists, key insights.

Detailed statistics

Travel and tourism's total contribution to GDP in the UK 2019-2022

Distribution of travel and tourism expenditure in the UK 2019-2022, by type

Travel and tourism's total contribution to employment in the UK 2019-2022

Editor’s Picks Current statistics on this topic

Current statistics on this topic.

Travel, Tourism & Hospitality

Inbound tourist visits to the UK 2002-2023

Destinations

Leading UK cities for international tourism 2019-2022, by visits

Leading outbound travel destinations from the UK 2019-2022

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Travel and tourism's total contribution to GDP in the UK 2019-2022

Total contribution of travel and tourism to GDP in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2019 and 2022 (in billion GBP)

Distribution of travel and tourism spending in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2019 and 2022, by type

Distribution of travel and tourism expenditure in the UK 2019-2022, by tourist type

Distribution of travel and tourism spending in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2019 and 2022, by type of tourist

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Total contribution of travel and tourism to employment in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2019 and 2022 (in million jobs)

Median full-time salary in tourism and hospitality industries in the UK 2023

Median annual gross salary for full-time workers in tourism and hospitality industries in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2023, by industry (in GBP)

CPI inflation rate of travel and tourism services in the UK 2023

Consumer price index (CPI) inflation rate of travel and tourism services in the United Kingdom (UK) from May to December 2023

Inbound tourism

  • Basic Statistic Inbound tourist visits to the UK 2002-2023
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Number of overseas resident visits to the United Kingdom (UK) from 2002 to 2022, with a forecast for 2023 (in millions)

Inbound tourist visits to the UK 2019-2022, by purpose of trip

Number of overseas resident visits to the United Kingdom (UK) from 2019 to 2022, by purpose of trip (in millions)

Leading inbound travel markets in the UK 2019-2022, by number of visits

Leading inbound travel markets for the United Kingdom (UK) in 2019 and 2022, by number of visits (in 1,000s)

Leading inbound travel markets in the UK 2023, by growth in travel demand on Google

Leading inbound travel markets in the United Kingdom (UK) over the previous 30 and 90 days as of June 2023, ranked by growth in travel demand on Google

Number of overnight stays by inbound tourists in the UK 2004-2022

Number of nights spent by overseas residents in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2004 to 2022 (in millions)

International tourist spending in the UK 2004-2023

Spending of international visitors to the United Kingdom (UK) from 2004 to 2022, with a forecast for 2023 (in billion GBP)

Leading inbound travel markets for the UK 2019-2022, by spending

Leading inbound travel markets for the United Kingdom (UK) in 2019 and 2022, by spending (in million GBP)

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Outbound tourism

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  • Premium Statistic Number of outbound overnight stays by UK residents 2011-2022
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Number of outbound tourist visits from the UK 2007-2022

Total number of visits abroad from the United Kingdom (UK) from 2007 to 2022 (in millions)

Outbound tourism visits from the UK 2019-2022, by purpose

Number of visits abroad from the United Kingdom (UK) from 2019 to 2022, by purpose (in millions)

Leading countries visited by residents of the United Kingdom (UK) in 2019 and 2022 (in 1,000 visits)

Leading outbound travel markets in the UK 2023, by growth in travel demand on Google

Leading outbound travel markets in the United Kingdom (UK) over the previous 30 and 90 days as of June 2023, ranked by growth in travel demand on Google

Number of outbound overnight stays by UK residents 2011-2022

Number of overnight stays abroad by residents of the United Kingdom (UK) from 2011 to 2022 (in 1,000s)

Outbound tourism expenditure in the UK 2007-2022

Total expenditure on visits abroad from the United Kingdom (UK) from 2007 to 2022 (in million GBP)

Domestic tourism

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Domestic overnight trips in Great Britain 2010-2022

Number of domestic overnight trips in Great Britain from 2010 to 2022 (in millions)

Domestic tourism trips in Great Britain 2018-2022, by purpose

Number of domestic overnight trips in Great Britain from 2018 to 2022, by purpose (in millions)

Number of domestic overnight trips in Great Britain 2022, by destination type

Number of domestic overnight trips in Great Britain in 2022, by destination type (in millions)

Number of tourism day visits in Great Britain 2011-2022

Number of tourism day visits in Great Britain from 2011 to 2022 (in billions)

Total domestic travel expenditure in Great Britain 2019-2022

Total domestic tourism spending in Great Britain from 2019 to 2022 (in billion GBP)

Domestic overnight tourism spending in Great Britain 2010-2022

Annual domestic overnight tourism spending in Great Britain from 2010 to 2022 (in billion GBP)

Expenditure on domestic day trips in Great Britain 2011-2022

Annual expenditure on domestic tourism day visits in Great Britain from 2011 to 2022 (in billion GBP)

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Accommodation

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Turnover of accommodation businesses in the United Kingdom (UK) 2008-2021

Turnover of accommodation businesses in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2008 to 2021 (in million GBP)

Turnover of accommodation services in the United Kingdom (UK) 2015-2021, by sector

Turnover of accommodation services in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2015 to 2021, by type (in million GBP)

Number of hotel businesses in the United Kingdom (UK) 2008-2021

Number of hotel and similar accommodation businesses in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2008 to 2021

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Most popular hotel brands in the United Kingdom (UK) in 3rd quarter of 2023

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Consumer spending on accommodation in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2005 to 2022 (in million GBP)

Travel behavior

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  • Premium Statistic Share of Britons taking days of holiday 2019-2023, by number of days
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Attitudes towards traveling in the UK 2023

Attitudes towards traveling in the UK as of December 2023

Travel frequency for private purposes in the UK 2023

Travel frequency for private purposes in the UK as of December 2023

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Travel frequency for business purposes in the UK as of December 2023

Share of Britons taking days of holiday 2019-2023, by number of days

Share of individuals taking days of holiday in the United Kingdom from July 2019 to May 2023, by number of days

Share of Britons who did not take any holiday days 2019-2023, by gender

Share of individuals who did not take any days of holiday in the United Kingdom from July 2019 to November 2023, by gender

Share of Britons who did not take any holiday days 2019-2023, by age

Share of individuals who did not take any days of holidays in the United Kingdom (UK) from July 2019 to November 2023, by age

Leading regions for summer staycations in the UK 2023

Leading regions for travelers' next summer staycation in the United Kingdom as of May 2023

Preferred methods to book the next overseas holiday in the UK October 2022, by age

Preferred methods to book the next overseas holiday among individuals in the United Kingdom (UK) as of October 2022, by age group

Travel product bookings in the UK 2023

Travel product bookings in the UK as of December 2023

Travel product online bookings in the UK 2023

Travel product online bookings in the UK as of December 2023

  • Premium Statistic Travel & Tourism market revenue in the United Kingdom 2018-2028, by segment
  • Premium Statistic Travel & Tourism market revenue growth in the UK 2019-2028, by segment
  • Premium Statistic Revenue forecast in selected countries in the Travel & Tourism market in 2024
  • Premium Statistic Number of users of package holidays in the UK 2018-2028
  • Premium Statistic Number of users of hotels in the UK 2018-2028
  • Premium Statistic Number of users of vacation rentals in the UK 2018-2028

Travel & Tourism market revenue in the United Kingdom 2018-2028, by segment

Revenue of the Travel & Tourism market in the United Kingdom from 2018 to 2028, by segment (in billion U.S. dollars)

Travel & Tourism market revenue growth in the UK 2019-2028, by segment

Revenue growth of the travel and tourism market in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2019 to 2028, by segment

Revenue forecast in selected countries in the Travel & Tourism market in 2024

Revenue forecast in selected countries in the Travel & Tourism market in 2024 (in billion U.S. dollars)

Number of users of package holidays in the UK 2018-2028

Number of users of package holidays in the United Kingdom from 2018 to 2028 (in millions)

Number of users of hotels in the UK 2018-2028

Number of users of hotels in the United Kingdom from 2018 to 2028 (in millions)

Number of users of vacation rentals in the UK 2018-2028

Number of users of vacation rentals in the United Kingdom from 2018 to 2028 (in millions)

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Visitbritain launches multi-million pound campaign inspiring visitors to ‘see things differently,’ driving bookings to britain.

VisitBritain/Jonathan Blackburn

Mad Hatter tea party at Richmond tea rooms

National tourism agency VisitBritain has this week started rolling out its new multi-million pound international campaign for 2023 to drive tourism to Britain.

The international GREAT Britain marketing campaign invites visitors to ‘See Things Differently’, showcasing Britain as a dynamic, diverse and exciting destination, packed full of activities to come and enjoy now, with a warm British welcome at its heart.

The first phase of the 2023 campaign, with a budget of £9.8 million, gets underway this week and runs until early spring focused on markets where VisitBritain is seeing strong recovery including the USA, its largest and most valuable market, Canada, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and European markets including France, Germany and Spain.

In Europe and the GCC, the ‘See Things Differently’ advertising campaign – ‘ Spilling the Tea on Great Britain ’ - uses a play on Britain’s love of tea, through destination images and short films to tell a fresh and exciting story about the experiences on offer, showing visitors that ‘whatever your cup of tea, we’ve got it.’

From a ‘Festival’ tea theme that gives a taste of Britain’s live music scene to a ‘Graffi-tea’ that celebrates its vibrant cities and cultural attractions. A ‘Surf’ theme shows the adventurous side of Britain and ‘#nofilter’ its natural beauty. A ‘Monster Hunting’ tea draws inspiration from myths and legends including world-famous Nessie the Loch Ness Monster. A limited release of the themed teas, blended by British tea company Tregothnan, will also be available for tastings at VisitBritain promotional and trade events.

In Canada and the USA the campaign, called ‘ Fake (Br)it Till You Make It ’ highlights the richness of Britain’s regional diversity. The phased advertising campaign gets underway with a variety of local phrases alongside destination images from across Britain. Later in March, a series of short films sees Brits sharing a warm welcome in local accents and dialects promoting their destinations, encouraging visitors to come and explore for themselves. Also from late March, a new online game on VisitBritain’s consumer website, using machine learning, goes live where players can have a fun go at mastering the accents with links to destination information to drive bookings.

VisitBritain CEO Patricia Yates said:

“We know there is pent-up demand for travel and that tourism is also a fiercely competitive global industry. Our priority is to build on the recovery we have seen, competing hard in markets where we are seeing strong growth, tapping in to motivations for travel now to drive bookings.

“All eyes are on Britain this year and by telling the story of our dynamic destinations and diverse culture, along with a warm British welcome, we’re inspiring visitors to discover more, stay longer and explore year-round, supporting local businesses and economies.”

The campaigns also plan to capture major events in 2023 including the Coronation of King Charles III in May and Liverpool hosting the Eurovision Song Contest , on behalf of Ukraine, also in May, valuable opportunities to show Britain’s welcome, creativity and ability to host events of the highest calibre.

The campaigns have been developed based on VisitBritain’s research into motivations for travel now, with discovering new and surprising experiences high on the wish list for its target audiences and markets.

Both multi-media marketing campaigns are using a mix of on-and-offline channels including short films and branded content across social media, digital display advertising, for example digital billboards in the Paris Metro, and print media. Content also drives online traffic to VisitBritain’s consumer website with ideas and links to activities, attractions and experiences themed around ‘See Things Differently’ using #lovegreatbritain.

VisitBritain is working with partners including Lastminute.com in Europe and online travel market place Wego in the GCC as well as paid content partnerships to extend the campaigns’ reach and drive bookings.

It has also called for tourism businesses, attractions and destinations to get involved by sharing local experiences that promote a different side of Britain across their own channels using #lovegreatbritain.

Separate campaigns are also set to run in the USA to harness the growth from this market, with visitor spending by Americans up 40% on 2019 based on latest statistics. A campaign is launching in March in the USA with British Airways as well as a test pilot of a cooperative marketing programme with industry to drive bookings. Marketing activity is also underway through VisitBritain’s  GREAT Gateway Innovation Fund  to boost visits through regional gateways.

VisitBritain’s latest  inbound tourism forecast  shows continued strong recovery in overseas visitor spending this year. Its latest forecast for 2023 is for overseas visitor spending in the UK of £29.5 billion, up 4% on the all-time spending high of £28.4 billion in 2019. It estimates 35.1 million inbound visits to the UK, 86% of 2019 levels.

VisitBritain’s ‘See Things Differently’ campaign is part of the UK Government’s GREAT campaign.

Notes to editors:

  • Monster Hunting tea clip featuring Scottish Highlands: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1SnoojdyLFE .
  • #NoFilter tea clip featuring Brighton here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/n3QemFss0dk .
  • #Surf tea clip featuring Wales here: https://youtube.com/shorts/Fog__ea65J4 .
  • Examples of static display images from the initial launch of the ‘Fake (Br)it Till You Make It’ campaign are available to download from the link on the right of this page - and include Eryri National Park (Snowdonia) in Wales, Edinburgh in Scotland, London, Manchester, Newcastle in England. Some examples of short film clips can accessed here: London: https://youtu.be/C8FOx4yT9C0 ; Newcastle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YetTxe9awCY ; Scotland: https://youtu.be/NlrUtipysBY
  • To drive spending and urgency to visit the campaigns are targeting visitors that VisitBritain’s research shows have the greatest commitment and intent to travel internationally this year. It terms this audience ‘experience seekers’ – defined as high value travellers who are spontaneous, pack lots into their holidays and are looking for exciting new ideas and experiences to share with others. More than half of experience seekers VisitBritain surveyed said the opportunity to discover new and surprising experiences is very important when considering a trip to Britain.
  • VisitBritain’s latest research also shows that one of the top influences for visitors when it comes to destination choice globally is that it is a welcoming place to visit.
  • For further information on events in Britain in 2023, please see  https://www.visitbritain.com/en/how-see-things-differently-britain-2023
  • For more information about the UK Government’s GREAT campaign see:  https://www.greatcampaign.com/

Press contact

Tracey edginton.

Chief of Staff and Head of News, London, UK

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VisitBritain set to host more than 120 international travel trade on educational visits across Britain

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IELTS Academic Reading and Writing - Tourism in The UK

An Online English Lesson by Rachael Roberts .

Language Point

Ielts reading 1, ielts reading 2, ielts writing.

Task 1 | Task 2 | Task 3 | Task 4 | Task 5 | Task 6

Introduction

This lesson is about the topic of jobs in travel and tourism. You will start by thinking about some different jobs in travel and tourism and then go on to read a short text about how many people work in tourism related jobs in different parts of the UK. You will also focus on some vocabulary for describing facts and figures, and some useful phrases for describing charts and graphs, before writing an IELTS Task 1 style description of a chart.

Task 1: Warm Up - Before Reading

Look at pictures A - C and match them to the three travel and tourism related jobs described below.

option A

1   Events can include weddings, festivals, conferences and social events, and the event organiser is responsible for every aspect of the event. This means that they need to have excellent organisational and communication skills. Among other things, they need to find and book suitable venues, contract caterers, hire equipment, organise car parking, security, first aid, plan the day's programmes, identify and approach speakers.

2   Tour managers accompany groups as they travel, either within a country, or just on a day trip. Their job involves informing the passengers of departure and arrival times and making sure that every group member is back on the coach before departing from each stop, as well as giving the group information along the way about the history and culture of what they are seeing.

3   A guest services manager is responsible for supervising housekeeping and other guest services within the hotel. The role usually includes planning the work schedules of customer facing members of staff, and may include recruiting and training staff as well. He or she will also deal with any customer complaints or comments.

1 - c , event organiser 2 - b , tour manager, 3 - a , guest services manager

What other jobs might be related to travel and tourism? Discuss your ideas with another student or a friend.

Tourism in The UK - Task 2: IELTS Academic Vocabulary

Match the words and definitions.

tourism in england text

Tourism in The UK - Task 3 : Reading (IELTS type task)

The reading text has six paragraphs, A-F. Which paragraph contains the following information?

Mark the correct answer for 1-6.

A  London has the largest number of jobs related to Great Britain's tourist industry, but tourism is not as important to London as it is to some other parts of the UK, according to a recent report published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

B  According to the survey, over 15 per cent of all tourism-related jobs in the UK were based in London, yet tourism related industries only accounted for around 10 per cent of overall employment. In contrast, Wales accounted for less than 5 per cent of employment in the UK tourism industry, yet within Wales these jobs account for almost 10 per cent of total employment.

C  Overall, there were just under three million people with jobs in tourism and tourism related industries in the UK - around 9 per cent of all employment. London and the South East accounted for 30 per cent of these jobs in total - highlighting the importance of the capital and surrounding region to the UK's tourism industry.

D  Viewed in a bit more detail, a greater variance can be seen in tourism-related employment patterns, with tourism hotspots revealed within regions. In Torbay, Devon, for example, more than 15 per cent of all employment was in tourism and related industries, while in parts of the West Midlands the figure was as low as 5 per cent.

E  Tourism related industries include accommodation, the food and beverage sector, passenger transport, vehicle hire, travel agencies, cultural, recreation and sports activities, and also conference activities.

F  The top ten local areas for tourism related employment in the UK, as a proportion of total employment were as follows:

Table for An IELTS Academic Reading Lesson about Working in the UK Tourism Industry

Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS)

Tourism in The UK - Task 4 : Reading Comprehension

Read the text again and decide if the following statements are true or false.

1. More people work in tourism related jobs in London, than in any other place in the UK.

2. A bigger percentage of people in Wales work in tourism than the percentage of people in London who work in tourism.

3. The area with the highest total number of jobs in tourism is London and the South East.

4. Torbay in Devon is the area with the highest percentage of people working in tourism.

show/hide answer key >>

1. True . More people do work in tourism related jobs in London, than in any other place in the UK.

2. False . A bigger percentage of people in London work in tourism than the percentage of people in Wales who work in tourism.

3. True . The area with the highest total number of jobs in tourism is London and the South East.

4. True . Torbay in Devon is the area with the highest percentage of people working in tourism.

Task 5 : language to describe a chart or graph

Look at the chart below and complete the description using the phrases in the box.

There is one phrase you do not need.

  • - looking at...
  • - overall, it is clear that...
  • - in contrast with...
  • - throughout the period
  • - that year
  • - the chart shows...
  • - it is noticable that

Changes in tourism employment in the UK 2009-2013

chart A

Tourism in The UK - Task 6 : Writing a description of a chart

A. Now write a similar description of the chart below. Summarise the information and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words.

Figure 1: National tourism employment as a share of total national employment for selected countries

chart B

B. Compare your description with the sample answer.

show/hide sample answer for task >>

The chart shows the proportion of employment in tourism related jobs in 12 different countries around the world.

By far the highest percentage of tourism related employment is in Spain, where 14% of all jobs are in the tourism sector. The next four highest figures are in Brazil, at around 11%, Canada, at nearly 10% , the UK at around 9% and Japan at about 7%.

In contrast with these figures, the lowest percentage in the chart is in Finland, where only about 3.5% of the total national employment is in tourism related work. Chile is not much higher, at around 3.8%.

The other countries, including Finland, France, Germany and other European countries, range between about 3.75% and just over 6%.

Looking at these figures, it is noticeable that there are large differences between countries in the same continent. For example, Brazil has one of the highest percentages, whereas Chile is relatively low. Similarly, Spain has the highest figure in the chart, while France is significantly lower, at around 5%.

Tutor Notes

Age Group: teens and adults

Level: Upper Intermediate and above (IELTS 5 +).

Topic Areas: travel and tourism

Skills: reading and speaking

Vocabulary: talking about numbers and percentages

Language Point: describing a chart

Suggestions for Using This Resource: General and/or flipped classroom use, to prepare for the IELTS writing Task 1, as a follow-up homework task after a lesson on a different aspect of travel and tourism.

Task 1: Discussion Task/Warm Up »

Task 2: Vocabulary - Numbers and Figures »

Task 3: Reading (IELTS Type Task) »

Task 4: Reading Comprehension »

Task 5: Language Point: Describing Graphs and Charts »

Task 6: Writing a Description of A Chart »

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  • The Language of Tourism: Translating Terms in Tourist Texts

1. Introduction.

International tourism, as one of the biggest and the most dynamic industries in the world, inevitably influences all the aspects of social life, including language. The development of international tourism has given rise to increase in professional communication in the field. The common parties of communication process in tourism are tourism professionals, tourists and local population “tourees” (Dann, 2012). The communication process itself can take place between all the parties in different combinations. The present investigation seeks to address only the written form of tourist communication. The latter includes communication between incoming and outgoing travel intermediaries. However, communication between industry professionals/ tourists and tourees lies beyond the scope of the present research. It is by all means interesting topic for further research, but contains little terminology. Furthermore, this topic is more relevant for the investigation of intercultural aspects of translation process of tourist texts. The large number of tourism terms is continually coined, increasing scientific interest in the questions of translating tourist terminology into different languages.

The present research aims at investigating tourist terms found in different types of tourist texts. By tourist texts we mean all types of written address to tourist or tourist professionals be it a brochure, a leaflet, a price-list, or a catalog. The present paper makes an attempt to analyze the language of tourism used to create a tourist text and particularly tourism terminology used in the process.

Here we address the question of defining the degree of specialization of language of tourism, mentioned in the works of different researchers (Agorni, 2012; Muñoz, 2012; Calvi, 2005 to mention but few). We make an attempt to classify the degree of specialization by means of discriminating between different types of tourist texts starting with those describing the destination (country, region, resort etc) through the texts, aimed at providing detailed information, to the professional-oriented tourist texts (price lists, newsletters, special offers etc). The term density of different types of tourist texts will be calculated and compared. Part of the research deals with the division of abbreviations into categories according to their function and gives general review of the approaches to acronym translation. Almost everybody at least once in their lives has encountered tourism-related acronyms (e.g. in tickets, bookings, reservations, advertisements). Nevertheless, there is no, to the best of our knowledge, comprehensive investigation into the subject of translating tourist abbreviations. This is an important issue for future research which is already underway.

2. Literature Review.

A recent review of the literature on the topic of translating tourist texts as the type of specialized discourse has found that there is a considerable amount of literature on translating specialized texts. Eugene Nida (1964), Peter Newmark (1993) have made thorough research into translation of different types of specialized discourse.

The study of terminology by Juan Sager (2001), M. Teresa Cabré (2010), Márta Fischer (2010) and others provide an in-depth studies and background information pertaining to terms and their translation.

Peter Newmark (1993), Alan Duff (1981), Mary Snell-Hornby (1999) make rather negative comments regarding the quality of translation in the tourism sector of economy. Patrizia Pierini (2007) investigates the quality of translation of online tourist texts and makes some suggestions concerning approaches to translating tourist texts. Dorothy Kelly (1997) deals with some constraints the translator of the tourist literature is challenged with. She emphasizes the need to professionalize the translation process in the sector of international tourism. Gloria Cappelli (2006) devotes a number of her works to different aspects of tourism texts and their translation. She investigates inter alia the degree of specialization of tourism discourse and translation of tourism-related websites.

Mirella Agorni (2012), Elena Manca (2004), Isabel Durán Muñoz (2012), He Sanning (2010), have carried out a number of investigations into different dimensions of translating tourist texts and the language of tourism. He Sanning (2010) suggested the new strategy for translation of tourist texts, the neutralizing strategy, as opposed to domesticating and foreignising strategies.

Graham M.S.Dann has carefully investigated the language of tourism and the way it helps to “convert…[tourists] from potential into actual clients” (Dann, 1996,2). The scholars from different countries (M.Gotti, 2006; M.G.Nigro, 2006; R.Mocini, 2005 to name but some) have carefully investigated and proved that the language of tourism can indeed be considered as the specialized discourse.

Few researchers have addressed the issue of tourism terminology (N.Ivanova, O.Maslennikova, 2013). A number of studies have been published on the question of translating tourism terms with a few lines devoted to tourism abbreviations (G. Denisova, A. Drozd, R. Romanovich, 2011).

However, there is still a need for the careful investigation into the types of tourist terms, degree of their specialization and means of their translation. Moreover, the specific area of tourist acronyms and means of their translation has been overlooked in the previous studies.

3. Methods.

In order to investigate the degree of specialization of language of tourism in different kinds of tourism-related texts, the total number 150 tourist texts were analyzed. For our research we used English tourist texts and their Ukrainian or Russian translations. As mentioned before, by tourist texts we understand any type of written tourism-oriented material aimed at describing, informing, or otherwise promoting travel product through print or web-based media. It can be an information booklet, hotel brochure, excursion itinerary, travel guide, terms of booking, reservation system including all but not limited to above.

In the first part of our empirical investigation we compare term density of three kinds of tourist texts: destination/ tour descriptions, hotel/ tour/ cruise information and professional tourist material. The latter comprises price-lists, itinerary details, agreements, reservations requests and reservation systems etc. We calculate the term density (Taylor, 1998:38) of the above texts in two stages. Firstly, we use the open online tool Textalyser to calculate the lexical density of an English text and open online tool Advego to analyze Russian and Ukrainian texts. Unfortunately, the latter resource does not calculate the lexical density automatically. The analysis results are used to calculate the lexical density with the help of the formula Ld = (Ndw/Nw)*100, where Ld is the lexical density, Ndw – the number of different words and Nw is the number of words. Furthermore, we used the lexical density rates to calculate term density by means of the adopted formula Td=(Nterm/Nw)*100, where Td is the term density of the analyzed text, Nterm is the number of terms in the text and Nw is the total number of words in the analyzed text. By this we attempt to prove that the more professional-oriented text is the higher term density would be. Thus we hope to confirm our hypothesis that the degree of specialization of tourist texts depends on the target reader. In the next stage we compare the results of the calculation of English and Ukrainian/ Russian tourist text to find out the difference in term density in different languages, if any.

In the second phase of our investigation we examine methods, used for translation of English tourist terms into Ukrainian or Russian. To create parallel terminology corpus in English, Ukrainian and Russian, the open resource corpus analyzer CATMA 4 is used.

Tourist terms are first divided into groups, based on the area of their usage. In this phase we try to confirm our second hypothesis that the strategy of terms translation depends on the target reader i.e. tourist or professional.

In the third phase of our research we make an attempt to assess the quality of tourist terminology translation. We analyze mistakes, encountered in target tourist texts, roughly dividing them into grave and easy. For the purpose of this paper we consider grave mistakes as those which lead to the breakdown in communication (D.Kelly, 1997) and easy as those which lessen the communicative effect. The criteria for their assessment are based on K.Reiss’ text typology (Reiss, 1971) and P.Newmark’s categorization of translation mistakes (Newmark, 1993).

Finally, we examine the possibilities for standardization of tourist terminology: motivation, benefits, and limitations.

4. Results and Discussion.

4.1 Language of Tourism. Degree of Specialization.

To evaluate the degree of specialization of different types of tourist texts the total of 150 tourist texts were analyzed, English text as the source text and Ukrainian/ Russian text as the target one. The texts were divided into 3 main types, 50 texts in each type:

- description (tourist texts, giving general descriptions of a destination, a sight, type of holiday, including destination description, e.g. countries, areas, regions; vacation descriptions, e.g. beach vacation, sightseeing holiday; tour description, e.g. cruise, excursion) - information (tourist texts, giving practical information on facilities, appliances and services used and offered, including hotel descriptions, cruise ship descriptions, excursion itinerary, terms and conditions of service, visa and documents information etc) - professional communication (tourist texts, used to communicate information between tourism professionals, including price lists, application forms, reservation systems, ticketing terms and conditions, booking manuals etc)

Table 1 shows the results of calculations of lexical and term density of all 3 text types:

Table 1. Mean score for lexical and term density of tourist text, where Ld – lexical density, Td – term density, ST – source text, TT – target text.

The analysis reveals that lexical density rate drops in more professional-oriented texts whereas term density rate increases with the degree of professionalization. Some source texts of the 3rd type had the term density rate of about 96%. Some difference was also observed in term density rate between source and target texts of all types. Further analysis showed that the discrepancy has mainly occurred due to the fact that target texts had significantly larger number of words. The difference in language structure rather than the lack of appropriate translation of tourist terminology made for the divergence. The question of translation of tourist terminology remains nevertheless uninvestigated at this stage of the research.

As expected, our analysis proved that the tourist texts, created to convey the information between industry professionals, contain more terminology and less general lexis than those created for the purpose of convincing or informing tourists.

4.2 Tourism terminology. Division into groups.

In order to proceed to the corpus-based study of translation strategies used in tourism, we need to make a distinction between different types of tourism terms. Having analyzed the terms used in the above selected tourist texts; we divided them into the following groups:

- Types of tours and tourism (e.g. agro tourism/ agro tour, incentive tour, rural tourism, space tourism, extreme tours, sustainable tourism, independent travel, self-guided tour, package tour, culinary tourism, Tolkien tour, week-end tour, day trip etc) - Industry professionals (e.g. guide, event organizer, chef, travel agent, kitchen assistant, airport baggage handler, car valet, tourist information center assistant, delivery assistant, sports therapist, resort representative, outdoor pursuits leader, air traffic controller etc) - Accommodation (e.g. standard room, daily average rate (DAR), net rate, rack rate, reservation, cancellation, to book, room facilities, SPA, air-conditioning, limited-service hotel, mezzanine, occupancy, vacant, franchisee, staff department, check in, prepaid room etc) - Catering (e.g. full board, American plan (AP), waiter, white glove service, buffet, a la carte, back of the house, all inclusive, expediter, in the weeds, front of the house, coffee shop, side station, tip, bev nap, cover, comp, half board, table turn, well drink etc) - Transportation (e.g. charge, refund, non-refundable (NRF), BT, PS, gate, access drive, actual passenger car hours, excess baggage, head end, return ticket, scheduled flight, charter flight, frequent flyer, shoulder, shuttle, cancellation fee/ charge/ penalty etc) - Excursion (e.g., itinerary, overnight, local venue, sightseeing, city guide, departure point, meeting point, driver-guide, guided tour, shore excursion, step-on guide, excursionist, day visitor, heritage site, meet and greet, hop on hop off etc) - Abbreviations (e.g. RT, IATA, AAA, WTO, B&B, GS, NTA, QA, FAM, FIT, DOS, SITE, VIC, WTM, PS, OFFMKT, APC, BA, NTA, SPO, VIP, WATA, OOO, MICE, BIT, IHA, LTC, MCO, RTO, VISA, XO, TDC, TBRE, CTA etc)

The division of tourism terms is rather relative since terms are interchangeable between groups. For instance, full board or B&B can belong both to accommodation and catering groups, whereas reservation is the term, used in accommodation, catering and excursion groups. Moreover, abbreviations can be found in all groups of tourism terminology. But due to the problems abbreviations create for the translators and readers alike we found it appropriate to form them into a separate group and further investigate strategies for their translation.

Extra problems occur due to the cultural difference in concepts between tourism terms in different countries. The ideal of terminology ‘one concept – one term’ (Taylor, 1998,37) is sometimes not applicable and even misleading when dealing with tourist terms. For example, standards for standard rooms vary between hotels of different countries or even hotels of one and the same country. Economy rooms in some countries offer shared facilities to their guests while economy rooms in other countries offer en suite facilities but have no balcony or are smaller in size. In some countries rooms are qualified as superior or even deluxe though they have the same facilities as the standard rooms in other parts of the world. There is no clear reference concerning bed size as well, therefore, some king-size beds are ‘more king-sized’ than the other ones. Likewise, if there is an abbreviation B&B (or ABF ) in a hotel reservation confirmation , some hotels will offer their guests buffet-type breakfast with the wide selection of food while in other hotels the visitors will have set breakfast (e.g. some bacon-and-eggs with a toast, butter, jam and a cup of tea or coffee). Such discrepancies in general tourism concepts add more challenge to the question of standardization of tourism terminology to say nothing of translation itself.

The global nature of tourism is somehow reflected in the existing synonymy of tourist terms. For instance, terms American Plan (AP) , full pension (FP) and full board (FB) mean that the price of the room includes three meals a day. Modified American Plan (MAP) , half pension (HP) and half board (HB) mean that the room rate includes breakfast and either lunch or dinner. Terms tour manager , tour conductor , tour escort , tour leader , tour director , tour courier are used to name a person escorting tour group during the entire trip . At the same time, in Ukraine and Russia tour manager is used to denote a person, called tour agent or travel agent in other countries.

The cases of polysemy are the most frequent with abbreviations (e.g. FIT is used to denote both free and independent traveler and foreign individual traveler ; CTA means Canadian Tourism Alliance and Close to Arrival, AA can denominate American Airlines , Aerolineas Argentinas , Automobile Association , always afloat and apparent attitude and need context-based attention on translator’s part.

The tourism abbreviations are used in all areas of tourism and can be further subdivided into smaller groups according to their function:

-        names of organizations;

-        types of services;

-         professional communication;

The first category groups international and national organizations either state-, public- or private-owned, be it association, authority, company or board having direct or indirect relation to tourism ( IATA codes included).

The second category covers all types of services offered in tourism, including types of tours (e.g. FAM, familiarization tour ), meal plans, and room categories (e.g . STD, standard, DLX, deluxe ) etc.

The third category embraces reservation/ cancellation remarks, jobs, financial notes, and professional slang.

4.3 Strategies for translating tourist terms

English, being generally accepted lingua franca in international tourism, is an inexhaustible source of terms for world languages. And Ukrainian language is not an exception. M. Teresa Cabré states that “from the standpoint of translation as an activity, terminology is conceived as an instrument for translation” (Cabré, 2010,358). The most adopted strategies for translation of terms are different in different language pairs and depend mostly on the target language. Presumably, some of the most frequently used approaches are transliteration/ transcription, calque, gloss translation or the combination of those. We assume as well that the use of functional equivalent is less frequent, partly because of what Cabré calls “inexistence of terminology” (2010,360) in the target language and regards as one of the main translation problems. On the other hand, the “practitioners” (Newmark, 1993,2), usually tend to transfer the new term into the target language without changing its graphic form. It would seem that, acting as “rudimentary translators”, as Taylor puts it (1998,35), they often leave the term unchanged in the target texts creating thus the new loan term. 

The question of translating abbreviations is even more complicated. To the best of our knowledge, there are cases when even professionals cannot decipher the acronym easily. Peter Newmark suggests the following procedures for rendering acronyms: transference, reconstitution of acronym, definition, combination of transference and definition, writing out in source language and translating in full (Newmark, 1993,138).

 The following tourist text was taken from airline fare rules, applied to the air ticket, reserved for the return flight from Kyiv to Paris:

changes/cancellations .

any time  ticket is non-refundable. changes not permitted. note -  when combining on a half roundtrip basis the  penalty conditions for each fare component apply . yq/yr charges are non-refundable . refund of unused taxes permitted for fully unused   fare component. if part of fare component is used - in this case no tax refund will be permitted. name change permitted for a fee and upgrade.  please contact bt for more details.

1 - psgr p1 adt  rules display   fare component 

2    adt pariev bt  puath 9   pu 1 s

fcl: puath9    trf:  21 rule: 5502 bk:  p

ptc: adt-adult              ftc: xpv-inst purch nonref 2nd lvl

pe.penalties

The term density of the above text is 95,7% and the text is mainly used and translated for the professionals, though the relevant abstracts from the full set of rules are translated for the passengers as well. Having compared the two kinds of Ukrainian translation (tourist-oriented and professional-oriented) we noticed that the tourist-oriented target text was comprised of the fully-translated acronyms and either calqued or transliterated (sometimes with the gloss) terms. At the same time, the text, intended for professional use, contained transferred acronyms, transliterated terms and extended linguistic structure. The term density of the tourist-targeted translation dropped to 35,6% while the practitioner-oriented translation term density was left almost unchanged – 92,5%.

To determine whether the above case was generally adopted we compared the existing parallel target tourist texts. The study showed that mainly the texts of the 3 rd type (as defined in 4.1) had parallel tourist-oriented and professional-oriented target texts. The translation strategy used was almost identical to the described above – tourist-oriented texts were translated using neutralized terminology and written out acronyms, whereas the professional-oriented translation contained source acronyms and proper terms. The term density of tourist-targeted texts usually was a third of that of the source one while professional-oriented ones retained the initial term density. The mean data are as follows: 31,6% and 84,8 % Td respectively. Interestingly, parallel tourist-oriented neutralized texts were created when the circumstances required of a tourist to be aware of some potentially unfavorable terms and conditions of service ( charges, supplements, extra fees, fines etc).

Further research into the strategies used for translating tourist texts was carried out to prove the above preliminary hypothesis concerning the common translation methods. The parallel English and Ukrainian tourism terminology corpora were created using CATMA 4 software.

We used the following translation methods for comparison:

-        transcription/ transliteration –graphical rendering of either form or sound of the term;

-        calque – literal translation of a term;

-        transference – retaining terms in its source form without any adaptation;

-        gloss translation – explanatory remarks, often in the form of footnotes

-        functional equivalent – any previously existing in TL term denoting the same or similar concept;

-        neutralizing – translation using general lexis;

-        zero translation – term omission;

-        addition – adding a term in TT instead of the general lexical unit from the ST.

The results of the investigation are shown in Table 2 below:

Table 2. Strategies, used for translating tourist terms. Corpus-based study.

Surprisingly, the results of our study failed to prove the preliminary hypothesis to the full extend. Instead of expected high transcription/transliteration, calque and gloss translation rate, the investigation showed that the functional equivalent, neutralizing and addition were the most frequently used translation methods for the first type of tourist text. The translation of the second type texts showed high percentage of calque, transliteration and functional equivalent in the target texts, whereas the third type texts preferred transference, calque and functional equivalent approaches. Gloss translation occurred less frequently than expected, perhaps, due to its verbosity. Typically though, gloss translation is more often used in the 2nd type target texts, the texts which offer necessary tourist information, thus requiring more explanatory details.

4.4 Quality Assessment of Tourist Terms Translation

The question of quality assessment is rather ambiguous. To the best of our knowledge, there are no universal generally accepted criteria to assess the quality of translation. Much depends on the type of the text, genre, source text and target language conventions. Functionalist theory (Reiss, Vermeer, Nord) considers a target reader as the driving force for the translation decision-making process and a commissioner as the decision-coordinating factor. M.Teresa Cabré points out that “conciseness, accuracy and adequacy are the most relevant criteria”(2010:361) to assess specialized discourse. Leaving behind the controversial nature of translation appropriateness on text level we move down to the word level in an attempt to evaluate the mistakes made in translating tourism terminology.

Peter Newmark (1993,29) divides translation mistakes into two major categories – misleading and nuanced. Misleading mistakes are further subdivided into referential and linguistic ones whereas nuanced are subdivided into stylistic and lexical ones. For the purpose of this investigation we adopt Dorothy Kelly’s “breakdown in communication approach” and combine it with the functionalist approach thus obtaining three types of mistakes:

- Mistranslations; - Misinterpretations; - Nontranslations.

Mistranslations are considered to be grave mistakes, leading to the breakdown in communication (Kelly, 1997), misinterpretations are regarded here as being relatively easy mistakes, leading to the lessening of communicative effect, and nontranslations are context-dependent and can be either grave or easy.

The first type, mistranslations of tourism terms can result in considerable breakdown in communication. Based on the results of our investigation we can assume that these mistakes occur because of either conceptual problems or lack of linguistic competence. The second type, misinterpretations lessen the communicative effect of the source term. The reasons for their occurrence are two-fold as well – either conceptual deficiency or lack of knowledge.

The third type of mistake, nontranslations, can both lead to the communication breakdown and lessen communicative effect. The consequences depend on the context.

Table 3 below gives some examples of translation mistakes met in tourist texts. The target text column shows the Ukrainian or Russian term, back translated into English:

Table 3. Terminological translation mistakes in English – Ukrainian tourist texts.

The table shows but few translation mistakes found in the analyzed tourist text. Our analysis took notice only of mistakes in translating tourism terms. Grammar, stylistic, pragmatic et al mistakes were left out of research with the intention of future investigations.

The above examples of mistranslations are considered grave due to their conceptual non-equivalence. Tourists, engaged in windsurfing are likely to stay at the hotel that offers the windsurfing equipment as opposed to the surfing facilities. Likewise, tourists, wishing to be qualified for, e.g. Diver Certificate with all probability will not stay at a hotel offering swimming or snorkeling . However, nontranslation of particular types of water sports is regarded as easy, i.e. lessening the communicative effect mistake. The tourist, wishing to be engaged in some kind of water sports will be delighted to see that the establishment offers this type of service. Moreover, he is the most likely to make some extra enquiries regarding the particular kind of sports.

On the contrary, nontranslation of the terms shore excursion and port of call is considered as being a grave mistake, since the target text fails to explain whether the cruise itinerary provides for the reaching of the desired destination.

Misinterpretation of the term family-owned as family-oriented results in receiving the misleading information in the target text. The reader would receive implicit information that the establishment offers some kinds of family-oriented services whereas the source text term implicates mostly the size of the hotel. Family-owned hotels are usually smaller, with a little number of rooms, cozy and quiet establishments. Nevertheless, the mistake is labeled easy because the hotel description gives explicit information regarding number of rooms, their size and any extra services.

Misinterpretation of the term expert guided tour , i.e. lack of the adjective expert in the target text lessens the communicative effect on the reader. The source attribute expert adds to the feeling of respectfulness and confidence towards the tour leader.

The average ratio of translation mistakes is as follows:

Mistranslations – 37,6%

Misinterpretations – 19,2%

Nontranslations (grave) – 22,5%

Nontranslations (easy) – 20,7%.

The above analysis did not show the correlation between the examples of proper translation and mistakes. This topic is reserved for the future work on the subject.

4.5 Standardization of tourism terminology. Motivation, benefits and limitations.

International traveling progress shows no signs of slowing down and consequently supply and demand development and creation of new terminology proceeds rapidly. Hence the need for the standardization of tourism terminology raises new questions and creates new challenges. Christopher Taylor states that “standardization procedures are still being refined and are still far from complete” (Taylor, 1998,37). Juan C.Sager considers the standardization to be a two-step process consisting of “a) unifying and fixing each referent, and b) unifying and standardizing its designation” (Sager, 2001,255). Being far from transcendental idea of immediate consolidation of translators, tourism professionals and tourists we still want to raise the question of standardization of tourism terminology. As was mentioned above (cf. 4.2) there exists considerable discrepancy in the concepts of some tourist terms. Tourists, booking a 5-star hotel abroad cannot be completely positive about its ‘5-starness’. One country’s 5-star hotel is the other country’s 3-star hotel. The common question of a tourist’s traveling experience and background knowledge of facilities, that travel agent asks before dealing with holiday arrangements raises “security and safety considerations” (Sager, 2001,255). Additional comments are often added to relate the linguistic form and the corresponding concept of some tourism terms. Hence the motivation is substantiated for raising the level of appropriateness between the term and the concept when dealing with tourism terminology.

The benefits of the standardization process can immediately be revealed through the raising quality of translation in the industry of tourism. Standard terms can help translators recreate the communicative effect of a source text in a target text. There will be no need for clumsy glosses supposed to explain to a reader the exact concept of tourist denotatum. Thus the higher level of precision can be achieved and all the misunderstandings avoided.

However, we do understand all the limitations for the process. The global nature of tourism itself points at the biggest limitation to standardization probability. Furthermore, the rapid development of international traveling creates new concepts and influences term formation. Still, further investigations into tourism terminology can add to the future opportunities to unify all the referents and designations in the industry of tourism.

Our work made an attempt to prove that the level of term density of tourist texts is receiver-dependent, future research could lead to higher generalization of our results. Besides, our work left behind the relevant question of the practice of acronyms formation and usage in tourism. Moreover, the methods of translation of tourism abbreviations leave much space for further investigations.

The results of our study seem to show that the translation of tourism terminology is likewise reader-dependent. The preliminary analysis of translation mistakes shows that much is left to be desired by means of translation quality. Further investigations can determine the correlation between proper and improper translation of tourist terms.

5. Conclusions.

Our work has led us to conclude that the term density of tourist texts increases with the degree of specialization of a text. The text, used for professional communication between tourism specialists can be unintelligible for the common tourist. Thus, the tourist texts with high level of term density are neutralized when translating for the tourist, whereas professional-oriented target texts retain the high level of term density if compared to the source text. In general, therefore, it seems that the quality of tourism translation is largely influenced by the means of translating tourism terminology. Abbreviations in tourism texts and strategies for their translation need further investigations outside this paper. The paper gives the comprehensive review of means and ways of tourism terminology translation and can add to the future process of achieving generally accepted standards for using, creating and translating tourism terminology. The possibility of creating the universal standards for forming multilingual corpus in the filed of specialized tourism discourse lies in the hands of future researchers into the subject. REFERENCES

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U.S. tourist faces 12 years in prison after taking ammunition to Turks and Caicos

An Oklahoma man faces up to 12 years in prison on a Caribbean island after customs officials found ammunition in his luggage.

Ryan Watson traveled to Turks and Caicos with his wife, Valerie, to celebrate his 40th birthday on April 7. They went with two friends who had also turned 40.

The vacation came to an abrupt end when airport staff members found a zip-close bag containing bullets in the couple's carry-on luggage. Watson said it was hunting ammunition he had accidentally brought with him — but under a strict law in Turks and Caicos, a court may still impose a mandatory 12-year sentence.

"They were hunting ammunition rounds that I use for whitetail deer," Watson told NBC Boston in an interview conducted last week that aired after their first court appearance Tuesday.

"I recognized them, and I thought, 'Oh, man, what a bonehead mistake that I had no idea that those were in there,'" he said.

The couple were arrested and charged with possession of ammunition. Authorities seized their passports and explained the penalties they faced.

Valerie Watson said in the interview: "When I heard that, I immediately was terrified, because I was like we can't both be in prison for 12 years. We have kids at home, and this is such an innocent mistake."

The charges against her were dropped, and she returned home to Oklahoma City on Tuesday after the court hearing to be reunited with her two young children.

"Our goal is to get Ryan home, because we can’t be a family without Dad," she said.

The couple also spoke about the financial burden of a much longer-than-planned trip. "This is something that we may never recover from," Ryan Watson said.

The U.S. Embassy in the Bahamas issued a warning to travelers in September about a law that strongly prohibits possession of firearms or ammunition in Turks and Caicos, an overseas British territory southeast of the Bahamas that is a popular vacation spot.

It said: "We wish to remind all travelers that declaring a weapon in your luggage with an airline carrier does not grant permission to bring the weapon into TCI [Turks and Caicos Islands] and will result in your arrest."

The embassy added: "If you bring a firearm or ammunition into TCI, we will not be able to secure your release from custody."

The embassy and the government in Turks and Caicos did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The same thing happened to another American, Bryan Hagerich, of Pennsylvania, who was arrested after ammunition was found in his luggage before he tried to board a flight out of Turks and Caicos in February. He said he accidentally left it in his bag.

Hagerich was on a family vacation with his wife and two young children but has now been in the country for 70 days. He spent eight days in prison before he posted bail.

"It’s incredibly scary. You know, you just don’t know what the next day may bring — you know, what path this may take," Hagerich told NBC Boston.

"You know, it’s certainly a lot different than packing your bags and going away with your family for a few days. It’s been the worst 70 days of my life," he said.

Hagerich, once a professional baseball player, was drafted by the Florida Marlins in the MLB 2007 June amateur draft from the University of Delaware.

His case goes to trial May 3.

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Patrick Smith is a London-based editor and reporter for NBC News Digital.

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  • Defence and armed forces

PM to announce largest-ever military aid package to Ukraine on visit to Poland

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will announce the largest-ever military aid package to Ukraine on his visit to Poland.

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  • PM to travel to Poland and Germany to cement security, trade and diplomatic ties with key European allies
  • He is expected to announce a £500 million boost for Ukraine and largest-ever provision of vital munitions, including some 400 vehicles, 1,600 munitions and 4 million rounds of ammunition 
  • PM to discuss the threat from Russia and UK efforts to support European security with Prime Minister Tusk and the Nato Secretary-General in Warsaw

The Prime Minister will travel to Poland today [Tuesday 23 April] to announce a massive uplift in military support for Ukraine, including £500 million in additional military funding and our largest-ever delivery of vital equipment. 

He will meet Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to discuss deepening UK-Poland relations, and the leaders will hold talks with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in Warsaw on European security and support to Ukraine. The Prime Minister will then travel on to Germany to meet Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin.

Ukraine is facing an existential threat as Russia continues its barbaric invasion, risking the security and stability of all of Europe. 

The £500 million additional funding announced today - which takes us to £3 billion in UK military aid for Ukraine this financial year - will be used to rapidly deliver urgently-needed ammunition, air defence, drones and engineering support. The drones will be procured in the UK and the funds will support a scale-up in domestic defence supply chains.

The Ministry of Defence will also send our largest-ever single package of equipment from the UK, designed to help push back the Russian invasion on land, sea and air. It includes: 

  • 60 boats including offshore raiding craft, rigid raiding craft and dive boats as well as maritime guns
  • More than 1,600 strike and air defence missiles, as well as additional Storm Shadow long-range precision-guided missiles. 
  • More than 400 vehicles, including 160 protected mobility ‘Husky’ vehicles, 162 armoured vehicles and 78 all-terrain vehicles.
  • Nearly 4 million rounds of small arms ammunition.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said:

 “Defending Ukraine against Russia’s brutal ambitions is vital for our security and for all of Europe. If Putin is allowed to succeed in this war of aggression, he will not stop at the Polish border. 

“I am in Warsaw today to deepen ties with our Polish partners and commit critical new military support for Ukraine’s defence.  Ukraine’s armed forces continue to fight bravely, but they need our support – and they need it now. Today’s package will help ensure Ukraine has what they need to take the fight to Russia.

“The United Kingdom will always play its part at the forefront of European security, defending our national interest and standing by our Nato allies.”

 Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said:

“This record package of military aid will give President Zelenskyy and his brave nation more of the kit they need to kick Putin out and restore peace and stability in Europe. 

“The UK was the first to provide NLAW missiles, the first to give modern tanks and the first to send long-range missiles. 

“Now, we are going even further. We will never let the world forget the existential battle Ukraine is fighting, and with our enduring support, they will win.”

In his first in-person meeting with new Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the Prime Minister will also seek to deepen UK-Poland ties across a range of issues. 

Building on existing strong defence and security cooperation, he will offer to deploy an RAF Typhoon Squadron to carry out Nato Air Policing over Poland next year. 

To further boost trade and support UK companies looking to invest in Poland, the Prime Minister will also announce today an intention to triple UK Export Finance funding available for Poland from £5 billion to £15 billion – our most generous offer to a partner country to date. 

Bilateral trade between the UK and Poland has doubled in the last decade to reach £30.6 billion, with 45 million bottles of Scotch whisky bought in Poland last year and UK firms bidding for £5 billion worth of Polish opportunities across energy, defence, healthcare, and infrastructure.

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Update to the UK Export Finance funding figures available for Poland.

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Antony Blinken

Antony Blinken to visit Saudi Arabia to try to restart Gaza ceasefire talks

US secretary of state to discuss avoiding regional conflict amid fears about Israeli ground invasion of Rafah

Antony Blinken will travel to Saudi Arabia to try to restart fraught ceasefire negotiations in Gaza, as a delegation from Hamas, expected in Cairo in parallel to the US secretary of state’s visit, said they would provide a response to an Israeli proposal focused on an initial hostage release.

Pressure on international mediators has mounted to secure a swift deal, amid fears of a looming Israeli ground invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza, where over a million people are now believed to be sheltering. The move risks sounding the death knell on talks to free hostages or find a diplomatic solution to end the conflict.

Joe Biden spoke again with Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday and reiterated his “clear position” opposing an Israeli invasion of Rafah, the White House said.

Meanwhile, the food aid organisation World Central Kitchen (WCK) said it would resume operations in Gaza less than a month after an Israeli attack killed seven of its workers , saying it was keen to “get as much food into Gaza, including northern Gaza, as possible”.

WCK said 276 trucks were waiting to enter via the Rafah crossing, adding it was exploring using a maritime corridor to deliver aid amid reports that the US military had begun construction of a floating pier off the coast of the territory.

Two Palestinian children are seen silhouetted as they look through a rectangular hole in a wall at a camp for displaced people: an expanse of sand and tents are seen through the hole, including one with a sign saying Kindergarten

Blinken is due to arrive in Riyadh on Monday for diplomatic talks on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, to discuss ceasefire negotiations and humanitarian assistance to Gaza .

Egyptian officials have stepped up their own efforts to mediate talks between Hamas and Israel, after a new proposal that would initially see a small number of hostages held in Gaza released in exchange for Palestinians in the territory to be able to return to their homes.

An Egyptian official told Associated Press that mediators were working on a compromise solution to answer both parties’ main concerns, intended to set the stage for further negotiations to end the war entirely.

The US news site Axios said Israeli officials were open to discussing the return of Palestinians to their homes in northern Gaza, and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from a central corridor that divides the territory. Discussions around a “sustainable ceasefire” could take place in a second phase of negotiations, after an initial hostage release, it added.

Hamas took 250 people hostage on 7 October, when the group attacked towns and kibbutzim around Gaza in an unprecedented attack that killed 1,136. In the months since, Israeli bombardments of Gaza have killed an estimated 34,000 people and levelled most urban centres.

Intense negotiations mediated by Qatar and Egypt led to the release of 105 hostages in an initial deal last November. In the months since, Hamas said it was unwilling to compromise on the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire.

As Egypt stepped up mediation efforts, Majed al-Ansari, the Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson and adviser to the prime minister, gave a rare interview to the Israeli media outlet Haaretz discussing Doha’s continuing frustrations with the negotiations, indicating the chance of a swift deal could be remote.

“We were hoping to see more commitment and more seriousness on both sides,” he said. “We are, with the help of our international partners, hoping that we can pressure both sides to an agreement, but right now we are seeing from both sides a lot of lack of commitment to the process itself and to the mediation.”

A house destroyed by an Israeli strike: its frontage and roof have been blown off and rubble is strewn all around. A man in a fluorescent vest picks his way over the debris

In Riyadh, the Saudi Arabian foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, chaired a meeting with his counterparts from Jordan and Egypt as well as diplomats from Qatar, the UAE and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation to discuss a ceasefire in Gaza and efforts to achieve an independent Palestinian state.

The president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, warned in an address at the World Economic Forum that ground troops entering Rafah could cause mass displacement and “the biggest catastrophe in the Palestinian people’s history”.

“We call on the United States of America to ask Israel to not carry on the Rafah attack,” he said. “America is the only country able to prevent Israel from committing this crime.”

The Israel Defense Forces said its chief of staff, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, had approved “plans for the continuation of the war” in a meeting with the head of the IDF’s southern command , while Israeli ministers issued competing demands of the prime minister, Netanyahu, over a potential ceasefire deal.

Benny Gantz, a leading official in Netanyahu’s war cabinet, said the government “will have no right to continue to exist and lead the campaign” if it did not agree to a deal that could see the return of the hostages. He added that the deal should be “responsible” and supported by the Israeli security services, but should “not involve ending the war”.

Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, issued a counter message to Netanyahu, calling the potential Egyptian ceasefire deal “humiliating surrender”.

Smotrich warned Netanyahu that declining to attack Rafah risked his withdrawal from the governing coalition, and the collapse of the government. “If you decide to raise a white flag and cancel the order to occupy Rafah immediately … the government headed by you will have no right to exist,” he said.

Associated Press contributed to this report

  • Israel-Gaza war
  • US foreign policy
  • Antony Blinken
  • Palestinian territories

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COMMENTS

  1. Tourism in the United Kingdom

    Tourism in the United Kingdom is a major industry and contributor to the U.K. economy, which is the world's 10th biggest tourist destination, with over 40.1 million visiting in 2019, contributing a total of £234 billion to the GDP. [1] [2] £23.1 billion was spent in the UK by foreign tourists in 2017. VisitBritain data shows that the USA ...

  2. Tourism in England

    Tourism plays a significant part in the economic life of England. In 2018, the United Kingdom as a whole was the world's 10th most visited country for tourists, [2] and 17 of the United Kingdom's 25 UNESCO World Heritage Sites fall within England. [3] VisitEngland is the official tourist board for England. VisitEngland 's stated mission is to ...

  3. Tourism In The United Kingdom

    Now lets take a look at some statistics that emphasise the scale of tourism in the United Kingdom: 1 - In 2019, the UK welcomed 40.9 million visitors. 2 - The total expenditure by tourists in the UK in 2019 was £28.4 billion ($39.1 billion). 3 - The tourism industry in the UK supports over 3 million jobs.

  4. About Britain & The UK's Tourism Industry

    The UK Government sets the overall strategy, policy and objectives for tourism. The Secretary of State at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is Rt Hon Lucy Frazer MP, who is responsible to the UK Parliament for our activities.The Minister with responsibility for tourism is Rt Hon Sir John Whittingdale OBE MP, who took over the role from Julia Lopez MP when she commenced maternity ...

  5. The Official Website For UK Tourism

    VisitBritain - The official tourism website of Great Britain. Providing you with inspirational activities and experiences, from those in the know. Your guidance and information about travelling to Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Helping the travel industry showcase the best of Britain.

  6. Tourism in England

    Inbound Tourism. In 2019, inbound visits to England included: Source: IPS 2019. 15.0. M. 11.25. M. 7.4. M. HOLIDAYS VISITS TO FRIENDS & FAMILY BUSINESS VISITS. Inbound tourism over time. Source: IPS . ALL TRIPS (millions) HOLIDAY TRIPS (millions) 10.9. 10.7 11.4. 12.2 12.6. Economic impact of English tourism. Tourism in England contributes £ ...

  7. England Travel Guide (Inspiration, practical tips & resources)

    Welcome to my England Travel Guide - on this page you will find links to all my travel-related posts about England. This includes where to visit, what to see, tours and tickets to buy, books to read, and lots of resources and inspiration for your trip. England is the largest country in the UK and if you are flying into London will be the ...

  8. British Tourism : The Remarkable Story of Growth

    Tourism at any point in time is in many ways a mirror of economic and social change. The changes in British society in the decades from the 1950s to the 21st century are reflected in the forms of tourism that the British have been able to aspire to and afford. 'British Tourism: A Remarkable Story of Growth' identifies the most significant of these changes and places them in an historical ...

  9. British tourism: The remarkable story of growth: Second ed.

    So, in 1955 only 1 million tourists visited England (Middleton, 2005). During the second period one can observe a slight augmentation of the number of institutions offering tourism and hospitality ...

  10. "THE UK'S TOURISM INDUSTRY, TODAY AND TOMORROW."

    Abstract. This paper looks at the future of the tourism industry in the UK from the perspective of a leading Tour Operator. It will offer an analysis of the data produced by the Office of National ...

  11. UK tourism News, Research and Analysis

    Articles on UK tourism. Displaying all articles. JC Cuellar/Shutterstock May 9, 2023 Does British tourism really need the royal family? Ross Bennett-Cook, University of Westminster.

  12. (PDF) Tourism in England (Top Attractions)

    Tourism in England (Top Attractions) January 2012. Publisher: Forouzesh and Azia Publications. Editor: Sanaz Salem Ayegh and Nasrin Aghajani. ISBN: 978-964-547-368-4. Authors:

  13. Literary England: 42 Essential Book Destinations to Visit in the UK

    Sedbergh Book Town. Sedbergh Book Town is England's Official Book Town and is located to the East of the Lake District. The town is still building its bookish reputation, but is worth a drive just to visit the enormous Westwood Books and see the hulking Howgill Fells. You can read our guide to Sedbergh here.

  14. Review Articles : Taking the History of Tourism Seriously

    2. On tourism and resorts in England and Wales see especially J.K. Walton, The English Seaside Resort: a Social History 1750-1914 (Leicester 1983); J. Urry, Consuming Places, especially Ch. 13 on the Lake District; J.D. Marshall and J.K. Walton, The Lake Counties from 1830 to the Mid-Twentieth Century (Manchester 1981), Chs 8-9, which Urry did not cite; and the chapters by Walton and ...

  15. Travel and tourism in the United Kingdom

    In terms of the distribution of travel and tourism spending in the UK, leisure spending constituted the dominant share, slightly increasing in 2022 compared to 2019 as business spending declined ...

  16. VisitBritain Multi-Million Pound Campaign

    Its latest forecast for 2023 is for overseas visitor spending in the UK of £29.5 billion, up 4% on the all-time spending high of £28.4 billion in 2019. It estimates 35.1 million inbound visits to the UK, 86% of 2019 levels. VisitBritain's 'See Things Differently' campaign is part of the UK Government's GREAT campaign. ENDS.

  17. KS2 Geography: Tourism

    A built up area, cities and towns, where people live and work closely together. This short film is suitable for teaching geography at KS2 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and 2nd level in ...

  18. Sustainability

    Rural tourism has a long history in the UK, especially in the western regions of the country; in Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall; and in the southwest of Highlands, Scotland [], which were accompanied by the development of tourist activities that helped them maintain a market share rather stable in time.Development of rural tourism in the UK is based on the development of transport, initially of ...

  19. Tourism

    tourism, the act and process of spending time away from home in pursuit of recreation, relaxation, and pleasure, while making use of the commercial provision of services.As such, tourism is a product of modern social arrangements, beginning in western Europe in the 17th century, although it has antecedents in Classical antiquity.. Tourism is distinguished from exploration in that tourists ...

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    Tourism. Tourism. Oasis of the Seas - The Biggest Cruise Ship in the World.

  21. IELTS Academic Reading and Writing

    An online Academic IELTS reading and writing lesson about working in travel and tourism. You will read a short text and answer true, false, not given questions and match paragraphs from the text with headings (IELTS Reading Section 1), learn and revise some useful vocabulary for talking about facts and figures (key vocabulary for IELTS Writing Task 1), and practise writing a summary of a chart ...

  22. The Language of Tourism: Translating Terms in Tourist Texts

    4.1 Language of Tourism. Degree of Specialization. To evaluate the degree of specialization of different types of tourist texts the total of 150 tourist texts were analyzed, English text as the source text and Ukrainian/ Russian text as the target one. The texts were divided into 3 main types, 50 texts in each type:

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