VisitBritain reacts on UK minister’s denial for backing tourism campaign

 

Following the UK Minister Jacob Rees-Mogg’s rejection for backing a major UK tourism promotion, Britain’s national tourism agency, VisitBritain, has given a reaction. The UK tourism campaign focuses on getting back tourists from global markets like India, China, Japan, Australia and Canada, for propelling the visitor economy after the pandemic.

Rees-Mogg has refused to sign the Department for Culture’s £800,000 budget in spite of approving £4m worth of VisitBritain campaigns.

This decision is anticipated to adversely affect small industries and many visitor attractions. A VisitBritain spokesperson said that destinations around the world are fighting to reconstruct their visitor economies after the decline of the pandemic. Global tourism is still 20% down compared to 2019 due to the travel-related restrictions. International tourism also plunged more than 40% in August due to flight withdrawals.

The VisitBritain spokesperson added that there is a lot of repressed demand for travel and people have several options regarding where to travel. Hence, they want to make sure that these visitors select Britain.

The national tourism agency further said that international visitors spent more than £28bn in the UK in 2019. The money went into local economies, supporting jobs. Britain needs to be promoted across all important inbound markets for being able to contend for the visitor expenditure, and to back over 200,000 small businesses depending on tourism right across the UK.

Tags: Tourism, UK, VisitBritain