Written question asked by Jeremy Hunt (Conservative) on Thursday, 18 October 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 25 October 2007. It was answered by Baroness Hodge of Barking (Labour) on Monday, 29 October 2007 on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Tourism

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate his Department has made of the average percentage change in the productivity of (a) the creative industries and (b) the tourism industry in each year since 1998.

Answer: The table shows the annual and average percentage productivity changes from 1998 onwards for both the creative and tourism and leisure industries. For comparison reasons information on ‘All Services’ and ‘Whole Economy’ are also included. Annual and average percentage productivity changes from 1998 onwards Percentage Sector Creative industries (excl. design and craft) Tourism-related and other leisure All services Whole economy 1999 3.3 3.0 1.2 1.6 2000 3.5 4.1 2.7 2.9 2001 -3.1 3.2 1.7 1.5 2002 -0.9 3.3 0.9 1.0 2003 1.5 -0.1 1.2 1.8 2004 6.8 1.9 2.3 2.5 2005 6.4 0.4 1.6 1.1 Average 1998-2005 2.9 2.6 1.9 2.1 Source: Estimates based on the Annual Business Inquiry (ABI), Office for National Statistics Further explanation of this trend is provided in the DCMS annual report 2007, copies of which are available in the Library of the House, though figures for 2004 and 2005 may now differ due to more recent revisions of source data. ““Tourism and leisure”” is presented as a combined sector to smooth out potential volatility in the series caused by fluctuations in levels of gross value added (GVA) or employment in any one particular industry. Combining these two small sectors allows better understanding of the overall trends.

Secondary information