The new UK tourism strategy aims to increase the proportion of Brits holidaying in the UK to European levels and UK tour operators could be asked to help by developing domestic holidays.
Launched yesterday by tourism minister John Penrose at the Department for Culture Media and Sport, the strategy states it wants to see domestic breaks grow from the current 20% of all longer-stay trips (four nights or more) to 29%.
This equates to an additional 4.5 million domestic trips a year, £1.3 billion more spend and 26,000 more jobs, and go some way to addressing the UK’s tourism trade deficit that stands roughly at 2:1 in favour of foreign holidays.
The report noted that UK package holidays are in decline because packaged trips work best when tour operators pre-sell an entire aircraft and are able to bulk-buy accommodation to offer cheap foreign holidays.
There was little in the report for the outbound tourist industry, it barely getting a mention, but some in the trade will be pleased the document contained meaure to name and same aiports that do not tackle unacceptable waiting time for check-in and passport control.
The said it government wants to investigate how to stimulate demand for UK holidays by making it simple and easier to put together “self-packaged” trips on websites as is possible for holidays to France, Spain and Greece.
The strategy calls for the forming of a task force of senior industry figures to investigate how this might be done. While this is likely to include bosses of rail companies and tourism bodies Penrose said it could also involve experts from the travel trade.
“We need to explore the economics of this but the people who know most about this are the outbound trade – they have a huge wealth and breadth of experience,” Penrose said.
He added that the drive to increase the number of domestic holidays would not necessarily come at the expense of foreign holidays saying it was dangerous territory for any politician to tell people where they should holiday.
But he defended the UK against claims of being expensive and suffering with poor weather saying it actually had a mild climate that meant the attractions it offers are able to be enjoyed throughout the year.
He did concede: “If you want two weeks sunning yourself on a beach, there are probably other places you are better going to.”
But Penrose said the outbound industry was barely mentioned in the strategy because it was the part of the UK tourism industry that was doing well and did not need the government’s help.
“As a nation we are the most likely in Europe to holiday abroad. There are some measures that will help both inbound and outbound such as looking at improving transit times at airports and other ports of entry,” he said.
James Berresford, VisitEngland chief executive, said: “We are not suggesting that people will not want to take two weeks in the sun but we need to target those people who might be persuaded otherwise.
“There is a lot of the domestic population who would be inclined to take a second holiday elsewhere. Actually we are a good value destination and we offer great experiences at good prices. Many of our museums and attractions are free.”