Tourism is one of the world’s fastest growing industries and the UK is no exception. Once worth almost £75 billion, the UK tourism industry makes a major contribution to the national economy, providing more than two million jobs. The industry also enjoys a close relationship with the hospitality and travel industry due to the sizeable amount of overlap between the them, including areas such as hotels, holiday resorts and theme parks.

The tourism industry had been witnessing a boom in recent years, however the recession hit at a  period of continued of buoyancy following the strong recovery from the affect of the terrorist attacks in America on September 11th, 2001. Promotional campaigns such as “Cool Britannia” and the ongoing popularity of the Royal Family were key to attracting visitors to the UK, as are the many attractions scattered  throughout the country though London remains the prime tourist trap. The growth had lead to a significant degree of innovation and diversification in both areas as organisations concentrate on consolidating their existing client base in addition to exploiting new markets.

As events in 2001 demonstrated, the industries cannot afford to become complacent as they are vulnerable to competition from an expanding number of holiday destinations as well as uncontrollable factors such as the British weather, currency exchange rates and the vagaries of customer attitudes. They will need innovative thinkers once more to tease more people into the UK when the world recovers from the recession.