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”.