MPs clash at BTTF over UK tourism

Tourism minister Richard Caborn has urged England’s tourism industry to look to the regional development agencies (RDAs), rather than central government, for financial support.

Speaking at a major debate at British Travel Trade Fair in Birmingham,
Caborn said: “I am the champion for tourism in Whitehall, but the drivers
of tourism are the regional development agencies.”

He claimed that he had managed to move tourism up the agenda – and said that on his recent visit to China, Chancellor Gordon Brown had been given a full brief on the economic importance of tourism.

The minister was taking part in a Question Time-style debate at the two-day
event, which is staged on behalf of VisitBritain. The debate was organised
by The Tourism Society and UKinbound, and brought together speakers from all three major political parties, and from private-sector organisations in both
Wales and Scotland.

John Whittingdale, Conservative shadow secretary of state for culture, media
and sport, said more needed to be done to promote England overseas, and to
publicise within the government the economic importance of the UK tourism
industry, which is currently estimated to be worth around £76 billion a
year.

Don Foster, Whittingdale’s counterpart in the Liberal Democrat party,
advocated the establishment of a separate VisitEngland body, responsible for
marketing England to overseas visitors, to run alongside VisitBritain.

Whittingdale challenged Caborn’s emphasis on the role of the RDAs.

“One of the big differences between the Government and ourselves is that the Government has put responsibility for tourism into the RDAs,” he told an
audience of 150-plus travel and tourism professionals.

“We actually think there is a real danger that tourism is getting lost in
the RDAs. We would prefer to see regional tourist boards being given responsibility for tourism.”

Foster argued for a greater role in tourism for local authorities.

“The role of local government is somewhat circumscribed in that they don’t have a statutory role in tourism,” he complained.

Urging councils to form public/private partnerships to tackle tourism
issues, he added: “Local authorities should not try to do it all themselves, but they do have a huge role to play.”

But Caborn insisted that the government had given the RDAs ever-wider
powers – and ever-larger financial support – to allow them to take an
“holistic” view covering “special planning”, transportation and tourism.