Includes listings for Northern Ireland, Scotland, & Wales
Great Britain or United Kingdom, officially United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a parliamentary monarchy in northwestern Europe. The kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, comprising England, Scotland, and Wales; and Northern Ireland, an integral component of the kingdom, occupying part of the island of Ireland. The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands in the English Channel are not part of the United Kingdom; they are direct dependencies of the British crown and have substantial internal self-governing powers. The United Kingdom lies entirely within the British Isles. The total area of the kingdom is 244,111 sq km (94,252 sq mi). Some of the hotels, motels and resorts available for booking in our reservation network include, Ramada Inn, Marriott Hotels, Super 8 Motels, Econo Lodge, Holiday Inn & Holiday Inn Express, Travelodge, Hampton Inn, Sheraton, Hilton, Best Western, Hyatt and Hyatt Regency, Wyndham Inn, Ritz and Ritz Carlton, Days Inn, Courtyard by Marriott, La Quinta Inns, Comfort Inn and Comfort Suite, Embassy Suites, Quality Inn, Radisson Inn, Sleep Inn, Numerous Resorts and Resort Villas throughout the globe, along with Plaza and Plaza Suites and and array of private and Golf Clubs and Golf Resorts.
Select a city or location from the list below to see the hotels and motels throughout this region, that have reservations available through our network. Other countries are listed near the top of this page.
Economy
Great Britain is primarily an industrial and commercial nation. Major industries, such as transportation, communications, steel, petroleum, coal, gas, and electricity, which had been nationalized by Labour governments, were sold to private investors by the Conservative government in the 1980s. The country is a world leader in international trade. In January 1973, Great Britain became a member of the European Community (now called the European Union). The gross domestic product (GDP) in 1993 totaled $941.4 billion. Annual national budget revenues in the early 1990s were estimated at $325.5 billion, and expenditures were $400.9 billion. Britain's unemployment exceeded 10 percent of the workforce in the early 1990s. A primary question facing Great Britain in the mid-1990s is the terms on which it will participate in the on-going financial and economic integration of Europe. Agriculture
Compared with most other major countries, Great Britain devotes a relatively small portion of its labor force (in the early 1990s about 2 percent of the employed population) to agriculture, forestry, and fishing, and the nation must import more than three-fifths of the food supply for its large population. A great deal of the country's land is not arable due to unproductive soil or inaccessibility, as in parts of the Scottish Highlands. In the early 1990s approximately 27 percent of the total land area of Great Britain was devoted to crops, and about 46 percent to permanent pasture and rough grazing. Agriculture in Great Britain is intensive and highly mechanized. Income from livestock and dairy products is about three times that from crops. Horticultural products are also important, especially in southern England. The most important crops (with approximate annual production in the early 1990s) were wheat (14.1 million metric tons), potatoes (7.8 million), barley (7.4 million), sugar beets (8.5 million), and oats (504,000). A variety of fruits and vegetables is also grown. Livestock in the same period included about 11.8 million cattle, 44 million sheep, 7.6 million pigs, and 136 million poultry. Forestry and Fishing
Of the approximately 2.2 million hectares (about 5.4 million acres) of woodlands in Great Britain, about 40 percent are in England, 49 percent in Scotland, and 11 percent in Wales. The most common trees are oak, beech, ash, and elm. Pine and birch predominate in Scotland. Production of roundwood totaled about 6.7 million cu m (about 237 million cu ft) in the early 1990s. The Forestry Commission has run a reforestation program since the 1950s, under which approximately 17,800 hectares (about 44,000 acres) were replanted annually in the early 1990s, mostly in Scotland. Private owners, who held more than 60 percent of the total forestlands, were responsible for replanting some 15,500 hectares (about 38,300 acres) of the total. The reforestation of an additional 65,000 hectares (about 160,000 acres) in Northern Ireland was also planned. Despite these recent efforts, however, Great Britain still imports about 90 percent of its timber.
The deep-sea fishing industry has declined since the 1960s, in part because of restrictions legislated by the European Community; it remains most important to the economy of Scotland and is a major source of employment in certain fishing ports. In the early 1990s about 628,400 metric tons of fish were caught annually. Marine fishes harvested include Atlantic mackerel, Atlantic herring, cod, haddock, European plaice (various flatfishes, including flounder), Atlantic salmon, whiting, common cockle, and Norway lobster. The principal freshwater fish caught is rainbow trout. Domestic fish production provides about three-quarters of Great Britain's needs. Notable fishing-product industries are located at Hull, Grimsby, Fleetwood, North Shields, Lowestoft, and Plymouth in England and at Aberdeen and Peterhead in Scotland. The British fishing fleet consists of more than 12,000 vessels, the largest fleet in the European Union (EU).
Great Britain or United Kingdom, officially United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a parliamentary monarchy in northwestern Europe. The kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, comprising England, Scotland, and 
Some of the hotels, motels and resorts available for booking in our reservation network include, Ramada Inn, Marriott Hotels, Super 8 Motels, Econo Lodge, Holiday Inn & Holiday Inn Express, Travelodge, Hampton Inn, Sheraton, Hilton, Best Western, Hyatt and Hyatt Regency, Wyndham Inn, Ritz and Ritz Carlton, Days Inn, Courtyard by Marriott, La Quinta Inns, Comfort Inn and Comfort Suite, Embassy Suites, Quality Inn, Radisson Inn, Sleep Inn, Numerous Resorts and Resort Villas throughout the globe, along with Plaza and Plaza Suites and and array of private and Golf Clubs and Golf Resorts. 
