News

New Visitor Economy Advisory Council to prioritise tourism

Tourism minister Chris Bryant vowed not “to overlook outbound tourism” when he addressed UK tourism leaders in London on Tuesday.

Bryant announced a new Visitor Economy Advisory Council made up of tourism and hospitality leaders and revealed he is targeting a 25% increase in overseas visitors to 50 million by 2030.

He told a Tourism Policy Conference hosted by the Tourism Alliance: “Too many of my predecessors have seen tourism as a nice thing to have and not a priority. I don’t. I see it as an essential part of our economy.”

But as well as setting out his priorities for the inbound and domestic tourism sectors, Bryant said: “Lots of Britons go abroad for their holidays and the outbound sector is worth a lot to our economy here.

“My predecessors probably overlooked outbound tourism.”

“Brexit has meant longer passport queues and there are challenges accessing e-gates at EU airports.”

He confirmed: “The Visitor Economy Advisory Council will also look at outbound travel, including the roll-out of the EU Entry Exit scheme and e-gate access for Brits at European airports.”

Bryant said he intends to work with destinations on addressing these issues “as well as to support some destinations in managing the numbers of tourists they get”.

He announced the new Visitor Economy Advisory Council would be responsible “for coordinating and delivering a visitor strategy”.

The council will have a series of working groups “with specific tasks”. Bryant explained: “I want it to be outcome focused [and] I want collaboration across the sector.”

He insisted: “We must bring tourism back to the top table, the industry working with us. We had 41 million international visitors in 2019 and 38 million last year. I want 50 million by 2030.

“My intention is to put together a comprehensive tourism strategy for the UK in the next 10 months. I can’t do that on my own. It will be the private sector that delivers it.”

However, he acknowledged there may not be time for the council to meet before the end of the year.

Bryant also acknowledged the impact of the significant rise in costs on travel, tourism and hospitality businesses announced in the recent Budget.

He said: “The costs of many businesses have risen sharply. I’m glad we removed the cliff edge on business rates by returning to 40% relief, but it’s still high.”

The minister confirmed the government will introduce a short-term lets registration scheme” as soon as possible”.

Tourism Alliance executive director Richard Toomer pledged to work with Bryant to turn his “bold ambition” into reality.

Toomer said: “One key factor in boosting overall numbers will be to tackle our persistently poor ranking on international competitiveness. 

“The UK currently ranks 113th out of 119 countries for price competitiveness, partly as a result of our high VAT rate compared to other destinations, and other tax rates some of which were increased in the recent Budget.”

He added: ”As well as boosting overall numbers, we agree with the tourism minister in his vision to get more international tourists to  experience everything the UK has to offer, outside of the more traditional tourism hotspots. 

“Far too few of our visitors venture outside the capital, and a new tourism strategy should place greater regional spread as a core objective.”

Share article

View Comments

Jacobs Media is honoured to be the recipient of the 2020 Queen's Award for Enterprise.

The highest official awards for UK businesses since being established by royal warrant in 1965. Read more.