Fascinating
Facts?
Published
by the Office of National Statistics (ONS), “UK 2005” provides
an overview of economic, environmental and cultural affairs in the
UK.
It
includes fascinating facts and figures ranging from the winners
of major sporting events and cultural awards to how much the
average household spends on transport a week. The full publication
is over 500 pages long, so we’ve been really nice and picked
out some of the highlights for you:
• Shopping
accounted for 20% of trips in the UK.
• Leisure was the most common reason for travel, accounting for 31% of
all trips.
• 21.3 billion text messages were sent in 2003.
• Over 4.4 billion passenger journeys were made on local bus services in
2002/3.
• Mary Seacole, a veteran nurse in the Crimean War, came first in an Internet
poll of the 100 Great Black Britons.
• The bulk of tourism services are provided by 131,000 mainly independent
small businesses, such as hotels, guest houses, holiday homes and caravan sites.
• Domestic tourists spent in excess of £31.3billion on day trips
in 2003.
• Business travel, which includes attendance at conference, exhibitions,
trade fairs and other business sites, accounted for 33% of all overseas visits
in 2003.
• Admissions to UK cinemas fell to 167.3 million in 2003 from a record
176 million in 2002.
• In 2002, 71% of online sales of goods and services by UK business in
the non-financial sector where in the wholesale, retail, catering, travel and
telecoms.
• Total visitor attendance at exhibitions in 2003 fell by 16 per cent,
but was only 4 per cent lower than in 2001.
• Including multiple exhibitions, there were 856 events in 2003, attracting
9.6 million visitors.
• There were 1.8 million jobs in the hotel and restaurant trades in the
United Kingdom in December 2003. This includes pubs, wine bars and other licensed
bars, in addition to businesses offering accommodation and prepared food.
• The world’s biggest and most expensive cruise liner, Queen Mary
2 was launched.
• Churches and cathedrals are also an important part of the nation’s
cultural heritage, with over one million visitors to both York Minster and Canterbury
Cathedral each year.
You
can find out more about UK 2005 – the Official Yearbook
of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland at
www.statistics.gov.uk/yearbook
Mary
Tebje
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