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Moreover, pubs continue to compete with other licensed premises, as well as the take-home trade, for a share of spending on drink. Consequently, many pub operators have been seeking to broaden their customer base by offering a wider range of services and facilities (e.g. placing greater emphasis on food sales, a move which has resulted in the pub trade increasing its share of the eatingout market). However, lower turnover pubs tend to trade through smaller outlets, the physical constraints of which limit their ability to develop new income sources.
Against this background, both brewers and independent pub operators continue to review their estate portfolios. At the same time, industry consolidation is increasing with, in particular, merger and acquisition activity amongst independent pub chains having risen over the last year. The ten largest operators are now estimated to own over 45% of UK pub outlets.
Little improvement in trading conditions is expected in the short term, with total alcohol consumption expected, at best, to rise only modestly over the next twelve months. Pubs will continue to vie with other licensed premises, as well as the take-home trade, in a fiercely competitive market.
Opportunities for some pubs to gain business from nightclubs may arise in the medium term when proposed licensing reforms come into force. Large city centre/high street pubs would be most likely to take advantage of the opportunity to extend opening hours. However, only a very small proportion of pubs would be likely to open 24 hours.
Pubs which offer a wider range of products and services will generally fare better than purely drink-oriented pubs. This trend is unfavourable to small, lower turnover outlets which will remain most at risk of disposal or closure as estate portfolios continue to be reviewed. Given the benefits that can be gained through economies of scale, further industry consolidation is expected.
Tourist industry in the UK
London
The Romans founded the city of Londinium in the first century on the banks of the river Thames. They went about their business, building roads and aqueducts, as you would expect. Parts of these roads are still visible today. Amazing.
In 1066 the Normans (Frenchmen) invaded England and London seemed like a good choice as the capital city. Apparently this was the last time the British lost a battle on home soil......don't mess with these guys. By the year 1600 London was home to 200,000 inhabitants and things were going along swimmingly.
This all changed in 1665 with the arrival of the bubonic plague (Black Death), carried by rats, which wiped out half of the population. The next year (1666) marked the Great Fire of London. This had the effect of dealing the death blow to the remnants of the plague, while destroying most of London at the same time. Talk about consecutive action-packed years. The modern city is based upon the subsequent rebuilding of the city.
London expanded all the while. This was facilitated particularly by the opening of over ground and underground railway systems. The first underground line was opened in 1863 and used steam engines to ferry passengers around. Think about that the next time you're on the tube.
World War II bombing and commercial expansion have changed the face of London. Recently the Docklands area has been rejuvenated and the Millennium Dome (the largest of its type in the world) has been added to Greenwich.
London, an amazing city where the old lives alongside the new.
Tips for tourists
There are a few obvious things to take care of before you head off to the UK, like buying an air ticket and sorting out your visa. There are a few other factors to consider too that will take care of any hitches that you may experience on your travels.
Travel insurance
Don't take a chance with your health. Foreign doctors bills can be massive when converted into home currency. Also, it is much easier to communicate with medical staff in a non-English speaking country in the foreign backwaters when you flash your medical insurance card.
International drivers licence
You may want to demonstrate your driving prowess on the narrow lanes of the English countryside. You will not hire a car without your international driver's licence. A short visit to your local AA branch with a few passport photos, your licence and an administration fee will get you sorted out. Money well spent.
Car Insurance
You may wish to purchase a runabout while in the UK. The decision on whether you opt for car insurance or not in the UK is made for you. Car insurance is compulsory. Your car insurance should be subjected to a discount if you have a reference letter from your local insurers. This should be on a letterhead and state that you have paid your premiums and what your no claims bonus is.
Photocopy vital documents
Losing your passport in the UK is not a pleasant experience, especially as its loss would typically dawn upon you 2 weeks before you are due to jet off to the holiday destination of your dreams. There is, however, a worse experience and that is losing your passport and not having a photocopy of it. Make a copy of all important pages, including your visa. This will not only speed up the application process, but you may need the photocopy of your UK visa to get back into the UK, if you don't have time to apply for a new one. In fact, photocopying all important documents (ID book, international driver's licence etc.) is highly recommended.
Travellers cheques
Carry most of your cash in travellers cheques. Remember to keep your receipt with the cheque numbers separate from your cheques and keep a list of these numbers in your diary. There are a number of ways of converting these cheques into cash. The best is to put them into the safe haven of a bank account. Alternately, you could visit a branch of your travellers cheque issuer in London and exchange them for cash. The third, and most expensive, option is to exchange them at a Bureau de Change. These places can sting you with commissions and non-favourable exchange rates. Stay away if possible.
International Student Identity Card (ISIC)
A number of discounts are available to these members (youth hostels, transport, cinemas etc.) The ISIC card is available from your student body or selected travel agents.
Passport photographs
Take a few of these with you. You will use them for everything from purchasing travelcards to applying for visas etc. One of those really handy items for the wallet. There are photo machines at most underground stations, but you can't beat having your own stock when it comes to cost and convenience.
Development of tourist industry
For an epidemic which occupied acres of newsprint for several months, the lasting impact of the foot-and-mouth crisis on British tourism seems likely to be somewhat less than apocalyptic.
It was a point well made during the crisis that, while most public attention and sympathy focused on the farmers whose flocks were being culled, the greater impact on the economy was likely to be on the tourist trade.
Tourism is far more important than the foot-and-mouth afflicted parts of agriculture to the UK economy. Agricultural output is only around 2 per cent of the economy, and livestock farming just 0.5 per cent.
Hotels and restaurants alone account for more than this, about 3 per cent of the economy; but the overall importance of the tourist industry is far larger, with knock-on effects on retail and other services spending. The British Tourist Authority calculates that about 7 per cent of gross spending in the economy is done by tourists.
It was with the tourist trade in mind that dire predictions of gloom for the economy were made.
The Centre for Economic and Business Research, a small think-tank, created a splash by predicting that foot-and-mouth would cost the country Ј9bn, about 1 per cent of the UK's annual national income, with Ј6.4bn of this a result of the effect on the tourist trade. This was regarded by many as scaremongering and the overall figure was subsequently revised down to just over Ј6bn.
Fears that the UK was being seen as a disease-ridden hellhole became so bad that Gordon Brown, the chancellor, in New York in May to talk about the global struggle against HIV and other diseases, found time to stop off and plug the UK tourist industry.
However, as far as can be estimated, the negative effect of the outbreak is concentrated in particular parts of the tourism industry rather than being a generalised blow.
Reams of anecdotal and survey evidence suggest that rural tourism, which depends heavily on day and weekend trippers, has undoubtedly been hit hard. Around a fifth of all workers in areas like Cumbria, Devon, Dumfries and Galloway are employed in the tourist-dependent sectors of distribution, hotels and restaurants.
The English Tourism Council says that tourism is losing Ј140m a week, and underlines the meagre amounts of compensation going to tourist businesses compared with that offered to farmers.
But more sober analysis recently by the Bank of England suggests that much of the spending will be switched elsewhere within the tourism sector or indeed elsewhere in the economy.
Retailers have done particularly well in the past few months, for example, as residents - and indeed tourists - locked out of the countryside have gone on shopping sprees in the towns instead. Retail sales in May grew at their fastest annual rate since July 1997.
The analysis and the available evidence also suggests that the impact on overseas visitors is likely to be around the region of a 10 per cent fall for a couple of months - somewhat less than catastrophic.
The latest figures appear to bear this out; the Office for National Statistics estimate that 2m tourists from overseas visited the UK in April - down from 2.2m in April 2000, but not a disastrous fall, and probably to be expected anyway at a time of weakness in the global economy.
In March, the first month in which the outbreak became serious, the numbers of overseas visitors was actually higher than in March last year. They also seemed to be spending about the same as ever, outlaying a seasonally adjusted Ј1.1bn in March 2001 as against Ј1.07bn last year.
The reason for the overall muted effect is fairly clear from a cursory examination of where tourists actually come in the UK. Despite the international image of Britain as a green and pleasant land, most visitors come for the cities.
London and the south east, one of the regions least affected by foot-and-mouth, account for the vast majority of spending by overseas visitors. The south east also makes up 45 per cent of total spending by UK tourists and overseas residents in the UK (exluding day trips), suggesting that the overall effect of the foot-and-mouth disease on tourism will be muted.
Even the English Tourism Council estimates that the English countryside is the destination for only a quarter of British people holidaying in England.
Just as agriculture is nothing like as important a part of the economy as popular belief might hold, so tourism outside London and the south east is also less important than the images of thousands of visitors tramping through the national parks might imply.
Of the 1,918 independently-owned attractions in the UK which charge admission and which feature in the Good Britain Guide, 722 have put their prices up this year, according to the guide's latest edition.
More than half of the 414 places owned by national organisations, including the National Trust, have also raised their prices, usually by a margin of around 10%.
"These price increases are hardly the way to attract more visitors, at a time when the British holiday industry is seriously worried about its future," said the guide's editor, Alisdair Aird.
Mr Aird held up the houses of parliament as an exceptionally bad offender. The increase in the cost of a tour from £3.50 to £7.50 marked Westminster out as the country's "worst price-hike villain", and the rise was particularly unpalatable because parliament was a body which "ought to know better". Mr Aird went on to express his alarm that "this year - against a background of near-zero inflation - so many holiday places have steeply increased their prices."
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