· the countries which have demonstrated an increase in numbers of visits, or a slowing down in the fall in numbers of visits. In the case of both the UK and Ireland, the overall trend is one of increase. In Belgium and Germany it is more accurate to talk of a slowing down in the fall, and the explanatory factors are different: without doubt, in Germany and Belgium admissions have reached their nadir; the rapid development of multiplexes has halted the fall in numbers of admissions.
 
· the countries in which one observes, in contrast, a continued fall in the number of admissions: Italy and Spain. In Italy, notwithstanding sizable investments in the sector, multiplexes have not yet developed; Spain has suffered from an inadequate level of modernisation in the last five years. France is a case apart: it has seen a fall of 5% in total admissions in the last five years. Everything indicates that there is a time lag between changes in France and those in other European countries. In fact, during the 1970s, the number of admissions was saved from falling by the creation of multi-screens and by the maintenance of national film production, then, during the 1980s, admission levels suffered from the increased prevalence of satellite television and feature films being available on video, and the maintenance of the sector is now mainly due to the involvement by the public authorities in the running of the less-favoured parts of the sector. However, in several countries (France, Netherlands), the year 1993 saw a significant increase in the number of admissions.

Rate of capacity utilisation: average admissions per seat
 
In order to gain a picture of what is happening to the provision of screens and to admissions, comparisons can be made for capacity utilisation, expressed in terms of the number of admissions per seat, which show that, here as well, there is a considerable diversity in exhibitors' fortunes in different parts of the European Union (see Figure 7 and Table 4). The rate of admissions-per-seat varies at the two extremes from 3.8 per week in the UK to 1.79 per week in Greece, which is a ratio of 2.1:1. This of course points to the wide diversity in relative profitability of the exhibition industry in the different countries of the European Union.
 
Contrary to all expectations, a few larger countries have capacity utilisation rates which are lower than the European average:

These factors are confirmed by the quantitative survey, which places the average admission rate per seat per week at around 3, which is an average occupancy rate of about 15% per seat (see Table 5).
 
Conclusions
 
On the basis of these two criteria - density of screens and capacity utilisation - it is possible at a macroscopic level to classify countries into four groups:

Two main typologies of the cinema exhibition industry in the European Union suggest themselves:

· the intensive typology, represented by the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands, where the recovery of the sector has been in response to market forces of the last twenty years, accompanied by an active policy of modernisation, which has caused the admissions rates of cinemas to rise.

· an extensive typology, represented by Italy, France and (West) Germany, where cinema density is still high, and capacity utilisation rates are comparatively and relatively low. These countries are characterised by the continuance of cinemas serving small populations, sustained by local or national government, because cinema in the wider sense, including film production, is seen as a vital part of the national identity. The cinema here is often still seen as the central point of the film industry. It is worth emphasizing the relatively weak role of circuits in several of these countries.