Society has a tendency to change from one day to the next, with even the most bountiful times sometimes clouded by unanticipated perils. One of the best examples of this fickleness is, of course, the global economy, which can boom worldwide even as countries struggle with runaway inflation, poverty, and unequal wealth distribution. Even on a local scale, very little is guaranteed. Local councils can just as easily run out of money as any large bank.
Tourism
In the UK, something called ‘stagflation’ – a portmanteau of the words ‘stagnation’ and ‘inflation’ – is causing problems for people up and down the country. Roughly described as a mix of price and interest rises as well as an absence of help for householders from the Bank of England, stagflation looks like the beginning of a long period of unease for millions of UK citizens. However, it’s not all bad news, as some industries are thriving, despite all of the above.
A quick summary from the Office of National Statistics claims that the imports and exports business grew from December 2021 to February 2022, with January to February of this year experiencing the largest increase of 25.4%. Research firm IBISWorld has a rather unusual take on the UK’s fastest-growing sectors, though, with festivals, saunas, trailer parks, and caravans featuring in the top ten.
Herein lies a bit of a problem with statistics: so many different metrics and definitions are used that it can be quite difficult to find real answers. To give an example, research from LinkedIn seems to suggest that, by virtue of the number of jobs available, e-commerce, healthcare, construction, and general freelancing are at least some of the most buoyant industries out there.
Economic Funk
One thing that’s certain is that tourism and entertainment continue to support large parts of the UK economy. Passenger transport, airports, rail, nightclubs, and hotels all experienced revenue growth in the triple digits at the beginning of 2022, again, according to IBISWorld. Festivals posted huge growth of 861%, as well, suggesting that getting out of the house is now almost as popular with Brits as staying inside.
One of the country’s oldest pastimes, gambling, remains a growth area, too. Casinos and betting outlets contributed £7.7 billion to the wider economy in 2019, which includes the online version of the activity.
Games provided by operators such as PlayFrank Casino and Casino Planet include some of the best RTP slots in the UK (return-to-player percentages describe how often a game pays out), which means that players get more game time for their money. The fact that many of these same websites offer bonuses for making an account and sticking around ensures that the casino industry enjoys high customer retention rates, too, something that can be a difficult thing to achieve in saturated markets like retail.
The UK gambling industry provides around 46,000 jobs, a number that continues to rise in tandem with the popularity of online casino games. However, when the figures from all relevant territories are combined, including gambling havens Alderney and Gibraltar, that figure increases to as much as 100,000 positions. The advent of mobile gambling is one of the main drivers behind this growth.
Overall, while things do seem gloomy for householders, British business may yet provide a way out of the current economic funk.