Crisis in tourism funding

25th October 2007 Attn. The Editor Sir, So, after “two years of consultation” a body of volunteers called the England Marketing Advisory Board changes its name to VisitEngland and takes over responsibility for an England Marketing team, which was actually already in existence and is hopelessly under-funded to compete against its neighbours, Scotland and Wales. Are we meant to believe that this is a real step forward in uniting and strengthening the disparate bodies that promote tourism in England? Then yesterday the DCMS announced an 18% reduction in funding to VisitBritain – and at a time when Regional Development Agencies are also fighting a losing battle to fund their long list of priorities, and local authorities and national parks go into a new budget planning process with further closure of tourist information centres and tourism departments in mind. Joined-up thinking has never been more necessary in English tourism. The Tourism Alliance, VisitBritain and the British Hospitality Association have called for increased funding in the run-up to the Olympics – and have been well and truly ignored. In a sector which numbers over two million employees (and can perhaps influence up to five million votes at Election time), it really is time for the industry to come together, decide the way ahead, and lobby like never before to ensure that whichever political party wins at the next election, tourism is no longer a forgotten industry or merely the subject of yet another review which only serves to stall progress whilst our worldwide competitors power ahead. No one industry association can provide this leadership – and as a quango VisitBritain’s own lobbying hands are tied. We must urgently beef up the Tourism Alliance, with its fifty association members representing over 100,000 businesses, and turn it into a real force for change in our industry. Yours faithfully MARTIN EVANS Managing Director The Tourism Business York Tel. 01904 438100 By email (from [email protected])