Tourism should have its own separate ministry and portfolio to reflect the sector’s status as fourth largest industry in the UK.
The call came from Butlin’s managing director Dermot King, vice-chairman of the British Hospitality Association.
King, who is also the chairman of the Cut Tourism VAT campaign, was speaking at Hospitality Exchange, a summit of industry leaders in Northern Ireland.
On his call for a dedicated tourism department, King said that the word was not even in the title of the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, even though it was such an important part of the UK economy, providing millions of jobs.
Tourism was too low level a portfolio, he said.
King added said that the UK industry had taken its eye of the ball to allow tourism VAT differential with other EU countries, including the Republic of Ireland.
The industry in Northern Ireland should be angry that tourism spend per head in the Republic was three times that of Northern Ireland and that was largely driven by the VAT difference of 9% against 20%.
The government’s dependence on support from the DUP, which supports a cut in tourism VAT, has led to discussions between the DUP and the Treasury which could be a trigger for the whole of the UK.
One of the reasons that the Treasury was reluctant to cut VAT on tourism was because when civil servants “looked out of their Whitehall offices they saw masses of Chinese and other tourists packing the streets but did not think of the rest of the country”.