Travel industry demands for a dedicated tourism minister were partially successful, according to the new tourism minister himself.
Asked about Travel Weekly’s Yes Minister general election campaign demanding a dedicated tourism minister, John Penrose said progress had been made and that he “absolutely” had more focus on the sector than his predecessor.
His views will be welcomed by the 1,000 readers who signed Travel Weekly’s Downing Street petition. Abta also called for a dedicated minister in its Travel Matters manifesto.
Penrose said: “When was the last time we even had a minister with the word ‘tourism’ in the title? I come from a seaside town so tourism really is in the marrow of my bones.”
Abta chief executive Mark Tanzer said it was a “step in the right direction”.
“There are so many different government departments which have a hand in travel. The next step is to have someone who pulls together all these different threads.”
Penrose’s views were not all good news for the outbound industry, however. The minister admitted his focus was mainly on the inbound industry because outbound had “fewer problems”.
“The outbound industry is one of tourism’s success stories and I would be amazed if it didn’t continue to be,” he said.
Tanzer added: “We are talking to departments on a daily and weekly basis about issues like regulatory reform or compensation. It is an ongoing dialogue – we are not sitting back and waiting.”
He said the industry should hear updates about Atol reform, and about compensation for helping stranded customers during the ash crises, in chancellor George Osbourne’s emergency budget on June 22.