Government under fire over tourism ‘blind spot’

Industry leaders have welcomed a report by MPs which criticised the government over its approach to UK tourism including budget cuts to VisitBritain.

The Culture, Media and Sport Committee report into tourism calls for a rethink of the “simply baffling” decision to cut resources to the national tourism agency.

Visit London urged ministers to address the recommendations made by the committee’s report, published today (Thursday).

The report describes the decision to cut funding for tourism as “extraordinary”.

“In the case of VisitBritain, no-one has demonstrated that there are inefficiencies in the way it conducts its operationws, and certainly not of the scale to justify the cut in its resources that is proposed,” the report says.

“Instead, we share the view that VisitBritain is generally a well-run and efficient organisation and regard the government’s attempted explanation of its decision as wholly unconvincing.

“The decision to cut resources is simply baffling and should be reconsidered.”   

Visit London chief executive James Bidwell said: “Tourism is worth £16.6 billion each year to the British capital and supports 250,000 full time jobs.

“Tourism is also one of the largest industries in Britain and the government needs to take the sector seriously.

“Cutting tourism funding, which is criticised extensively in the committee’s report, is short-sighted and places London and the UK at a competitive disadvantage to other destinations.”

Visit London also condemned the government’s lack of funding to ensure the legacy of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

“The forecast incremental tourism benefit of the Games is £2.2 billion for London and £2.9 billion for the UK,” said Bidwell.

“With just four years until London 2012, the government has no funding in place to ensure that the tourism sector can leverage this once in a life opportunity for the visitor economy.

“The post-Games legacy depends on our ability to showcase London and Britain to the world and this cannot be done without appropriate funding.

“The government seems to have a tourism blind spot on how to maximise the Olympic opportunity.”

Liberal Democrat shadow culture, media and sport secretary Don Foster said: “This is a damning indictment of the Government’s approach to tourism since 1997.

“Lack of investment in the industry has led to Britain’s share of the global tourism market falling.

“Ministers have got to support the industry with more than just words if they are serious about making tourism a key part of the 2012 Olympic legacy.”

A VisitBritain spokesman said: “We are delighted that the committee has strongly endorsed the continuing value of VisitBritain’s network of overseas offices for the benefit of all parts of the UK, a view unanimously shared by the national tourist boards, Regional Development Agencies, trade associations and private companies who appeared before the committee.

Furthermore we are delighted that the Select Committee has found that there is “a strong case for increasing the resources to VisitBritain” from central Government. 

“We are particularly pleased that this committee has consistently been a strong advocate for the tourism industry and we welcome its call for greater central Government investment in this important industry, especially in order to realise the tourism benefits of hosting the London 2012 Olympic and Paralymic Games. 

“We are also pleased that the report calls for tourism ‘to be taken seriously’ at all levels of Government, including local authorities, RDAs and central government.

“We share the committee’s desire to increase the number of accommodation providers who are recognised at a national level and we are working to ensure our schemes are accessible, flexible and will encourage still greater participation in the future.”

Many of the recommendations of the report anticipate the work currently underway on the forthcoming British Tourism Framework Review, to be published in October.

“We are pleased that there is a great deal of common agreement in our thinking,” said the VisitBritain spokesman. 

“We look forward to reading the response of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to the committee’s report.”

by Phil Davies