Prime Minister Gordon Brown has come under fire for suggesting that Britons should aspire to taking holidays abroad.
His comments at the weekend drew criticism from leading domestic holiday operator Hoseasons.
The company’s chief executive Richard Carrick, in a letter to The Times, said: “I was dismayed to read that Gordon Brown wants us all to aspire to holidays abroad.
“Tourism is one of Britain’s biggest industries; it employs more than two million people and contributes four per cent of GDP.
“Yet every year Britain runs up a tourism deficit of £17 billion, largely because of our love of overseas holidays.”
Carrick added: “Surely the Prime Minister should be doing everything he can to encourage people to have wonderful holidays in Britain, rather than shovel them on to cramped charter flights to enrich other nations and impoverish our own?”
by Phil Davies
