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Tourism specialists call on all South West MPs to back parliamentary move over funding cuts
This is not the time to cut funding for such a crucial sector, says South West accountancy firm, Bishop Fleming
A new “early day motion” highlighting Government cuts in funding for tourism, tabled by a Westcountry MP, has been welcomed by a specialist adviser to South West tourism businesses.
Don Foster, MP for Bath and national Lib Dem spokesman on culture, media, and sport, has tabled a motion attacking the Government’s recent announcement of a series of funding cuts for VisitBritain – the agency responsible for promoting visits to Britain by overseas tourists.
Last month, the Government announced that funding for VisitBritain will drop from this year’s figure of £49.6 million to £47.6 million next year. It will be further reduced to £45.1 million in 2009/10, and chopped to just £40.6 million the following year.
According to Will Hanbury, who heads the Tourism & Leisure team at South West accountants, Bishop Fleming: “These cuts could not have come at a worse time for this region’s tourism sector, which makes such a crucial contribution to the South West economy.
“National figures for the third quarter of this year showed a 4.5% drop in overseas visitors, at a time when the strength of the pound and a succession of bad-news stories about floods, foot & mouth disease, and poor summer weather, made it more difficult to attract overseas visitors to Britain.
“We advise more than 200 hotels, restaurants, and visitor attractions throughout the South West, and we know that our clients have seen the impact on the number of continental and overseas visitors coming to this region.
“At the same time, however, they have also seen the impact of Government encouragement for low-cost flights from our regional airports, boosting the number of British travellers abandoning the South West in favour of cheap holidays abroad”, said Mr Hanbury.
Bishop Fleming, which has offices in Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth, Torquay, and Truro, is writing to all South West MPs, urging them to sign Don Foster’s early-day-motion.
“We are convinced that VisitBritain’s spending of less than £50 million has a marked effect on the UK’s £85 billion tourism market. Every summer, we have seen the non-scientific ‘M-5 test’, when the nationality of most overseas cars driving into the South West reveals a clear link with the country VisitBritain has most recently targeted with publicity”, said Mr Hanbury.
“While the Government may take the view that no publicity investment is needed to sustain overseas visitors to London, that is certainly not true of the need to promote the South West to international markets.
“Right now, the Government is delivering a ‘double-whammy’ to the South West’s tourism industry by cutting funds to attract overseas visitors, and fuelling the erosion of British visitors by encouraging the boom in cheap flights from regional airports”, said Mr Hanbury.