Inbound and outbound sectors 'equally important' to UK, says tourism minister

Tourism minister Chris Bryant has described the inbound and outbound travel sectors as “equally important” to the UK while hailing progress towards a national tourism strategy by the end of this year.

 

Speaking at Abta’s 15th Travel Matters conference in Westminster yesterday (Wednesday), Bryant reiterated the importance of the outbound travel sector and said a “strong case” was currently being compiled for the Treasury in a bid to secure government investment.

 

He said: “You are a really important part of the UK industry in terms of economy and jobs but also very important in a social and cultural way.

 

“I think the inbound and outbound are both equally important to us in the UK. You cannot get the inbound without the outbound industry; the more the two can work together the better.

 

“Our aim is to produce a tourism strategy by the end of the year. We are working on it now. I very much want to put elements from the outbound industry into that. I think we as a government can take a proactive role and work with you.”

 

Industry leaders welcomed the minister’s comments as "positive" and "refreshing". 

Abta chairman Alistair Rowland said: "When have we last heard from a minister who said outbound [tourism] is as important as inbound. I think that is the first time in my time in the industry that a minister has said that."

 

Bryant added that a “deep dive” meeting was due to be held in the next few weeks with “top people in Downing Street” to discuss the strategy, which has already included the creation of a Visitor Economy Advisory Council made up of tourism and hospitality leaders.

 

He cited the importance of outbound tourism to regional airports in the UK and said work was underway to "sort out" issues at regional airports which would benefit the outbound sector.

 

“All of this is to get the government to take this [tourism sector] more seriously. It’s much bigger than the automotive industry but they talk more about that in government,” he added.

 

Bryant has already outlined a goal of 50 million overseas visitors to the UK by 2030, which he said he was “hopeful” of reaching.

 

He said: “We need to make sure the whole of government works together on this strategy. Historically no tourism minister has managed to get the government to work on this; that’s why I want a national strategy, because that forces government to do that.

 

“The struggle in the past has been getting the Treasury to understand the whole extent of the industry. I am trying to put the whole lot together, to make a strong investment case to government and the Treasury.”

 

He said Deloitte was currently working on “what that investment case will be” and gave an upbeat assessment of progress so far, noting: “We are getting there.”

 

He outlined plans for five centres of expertise in hospitality and tourism in the UK by the next election as part of a “whole tourism approach”, with one likely to be in the north east of England.

 

Among the important issues for the industry are e-gates at airports in the EU following last month’s EU summit agreement, he added.

 

“I am keen for all EU countries to have e-gates as soon as possible,” he said, but stressed it was now up to individual countries in terms of the speed of implementation.