Retailing and Wholesaling.

In June 1995 the retail and wholesale trades employed nearly 3.6 million people. During recent years the large multiple retailers have grown in size, reducing numbers of stores but increasing outlet size and diversifying their product ranges. Four of the ten largest food retailers in Western Europe are British. The biggest supermarket groups are Tesco, J. Sainsbury, Argyll (principally Safeway) and Asda. These accounted for 40 per cent of food and drink sold in 1994-95.

Many towns and cities have purpose-built shopping centres. One of the first regional

out-of-town shopping centres was the Metro Centre at Gateshead in Tyne and Wear, which is the largest of its kind in Europe.

Information technology has become increasingly central to distribution and retailing. Computers monitor stock levels and record sales figures through electronic point-of-sale (EPOS) systems which read a bar code printed on the retail product. Several major EFTPOS (electronic funds transfer at point of sale) systems, enabling customers to pay for purchases using debit cards that automatically transfer funds from their bank account, are well established. The number of EFTPOS terminals is growing rapidly.

Tourism

Britain is the world's sixth leading tourist destination. Tourism contributes around Ј33,000 million a year to the economy and employs about 1.5 million people. In 1994 a record 21 million overseas visitors came to Britain and spent around Ј10,000 million. About 63 per cent of overseas visitors were from Europe and 17 per cent from North America.

The British Tourist Authority (BTA) promotes Britain overseas as a tourist destination. Tourist boards for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland encourage the development and promotion of tourism within Britain and work with the BTA overseas.

Other Services

Other service industries include vehicle, vehicle parts and petrol retailing; hotels and catering; and a broad range of business services, such as computer services, advertising, market research and franchising.

Hotels and catering employ about 2.4 million people in Great Britain. There are 52,000 hotels in Great Britain, ranging from large businesses (such as Forte) to numerous guest houses and small hotels with fewer than 20 rooms. Britain's 100,000 restaurants offer cuisine from virtually every country in the world. Chinese, Indian, Italian and Greek restaurants are among the most popular. 'Fast food' restaurants, specialising in hamburgers, chicken, pizza and a variety of other foods, are becoming more and more widespread. About 77,000 public houses sell beer, wines, soft drinks and spirits to adults for consumption on the premises; most also provide hot and cold food.

Britain is one of the world's three leading countries for international conferences. London and Paris are the two most popular conference cities.

Britain is a major centre for creative advertising. Leading companies include Abbott Mead Vickers, BBDO,J. Walter Thompson, Leo Burnett, and OgiIvy and Mather Advertising. Spending on advertising totalled Ј10,200 million in 1994, of which 55 per cent was placed in the press and 28 per cent on television. Campaigns are planned by around 2,000 advertising agencies. The largest advertising expenditure is on food, household durables, cosmetics, office equipment, motor vehicles and financial services. The public relations industry has grown rapidly and is now the most developed in Europe.

Britain's economy is based primarily on private enterprise, with the private sector accounting for 79 per cent of output and 85 per cent of employment.