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Welcome to the July Tourism Update
The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, John Whittingdale gave the keynote speech to the British Hospitality Association’s Hospitality and Tourism Summit last week.
Mr Whittingdale said the Government regards tourism and hospitality as one of the country’s most important industries and will continue to support it and help it grow. The industry is going “from strength to strength” supplying almost one in ten jobs in the UK. He added that Britain attracted a record number of inbound visitors last year and there was record spend on domestic overnight trips too.
He said: “The reason why tourism is so successful in this country, is because our country has so much to offer. People come to Britain because of our extraordinary heritage, our beautiful landscapes, our great sporting events, our art, some of the finest museums in the world, and our music.
“All of these are why people come to visit Britain. It was the case last week, it is the case this week, and it will be the case next week.”
Mr Whittingdale said the referendum result offers opportunities as well as challenges and urged the sector to take advantage of them. He also assured the tourism and hospitality industry that DCMS will engage closely with them as negotiations progress following the referendum.
“My message is that we will continue to welcome visitors from Europe into this country, just as we in Britain will continue to visit countries in Europe.”
“We will be working with you very closely to maintain tourism as one of our most important industries in this country, and to grow it further.”
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