AN UNPRECEDENTED move has brought
England, Wales and Scotland together to lobby the Government for dramatic
improvements in domestic tourism funding and recognition.
The
chiefs of the countries’ tourism authorities have launched Tourism UK – a
federation for British Tourism with the slogan ‘One Voice’.
They
intend it to provide a collective voice to steer Government strategy and make
recommendations.
Leaders
of the group are English Tourism Council chairman Alan Britten, Wales Tourist
Board chairman Phillip Evans and VisitScotland chairman Peter Lederer, who
control £80 million of public money and have a say in the spending of a further
£200 million by regional agencies on tourism.
Evans
said: “It is amazing that after 30 years we have not got together for a pan-UK
discussion of the issues.
“We
wanted to make our point known at a more senior level of government.
“We
do not want to alienate anyone, we need everyone on our side, but we are
constantly firefighting and domestic tourism is overlooked, despite providing
85% of tourism’s yield.”
He
denied the partnership would undermine British Tourist Authority efforts to
help tourism, saying the BTA had been asked to help. Evans also said Tourism UK
would be meeting with Government figures such as Kim Howells and Tessa Jowell
to demand extra recognition and funding.
Quarterly
briefings will also be held with key figures in the London, Cardiff and
Edinburgh parliaments to broaden the message and importance of UK tourism.
* The British Incoming Tour Operators Association has
revealed continuing disappointing UK bookings. In July, arrivals were down 4.7%
on the same month last year, while forward bookings were down 4.2%.