To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the launch of the tourism business advisory service.
I welcome the initiatives of those regional tourist boards which, together with their local small firms service, have established advisory services for tourism businesses in their regions. I was delighted to have the opportunity personally to launch the first such initiative for East Anglia in June 1987, and the west country initiative in May this year.
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give a breakdown of the main items of overseas visitors' spending.
The table gives the most up-to-date estimates.
| Expenditure in the United Kingdom by overseas visitors: 1988 | |
| Category of spending | Per cent. |
| Accommodation | 32 |
| Eating out | 23 |
| Travel within the United Kingdom | 9 |
| Shopping | 23 |
| of which:— | |
| Clothes | 14 |
| Other | 13 |
| Entertainment | 5 |
| Services | 3 |
| Other | 2 |
| Total Expenditure | £5·5 billion |
to ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will take steps to encourage the greater use of unmanned tourist information centres for use by tourists after normal working hours.
The English tourist board estimates that around 10 per cent. of manned tourist information centres have some form of electronic information system. The ETB is actively encouraging the widespread use of interactive video systems to provide information to visitors outside normal working hours, and is establishing a database of recommended systems.