Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if his Department will take steps to encourage more foreign tourists to visit the north of England.

VisitBritain and VisitEngland are responsible for promoting the UK as a tourist destination, which it does through a range of different initiatives and campaigns. There are a number of projects in the £40m Discover England Fund which are based in the north of England, including two which aim to make Manchester a gateway to England: London and Manchester: Gateways to England and Growing Manchester as an International Gateway to the North.

The Coastal Communities Fund has funded 48 projects worth £54 million in the Northern Powerhouse area since 2012. At least two thirds of this expenditure has been awarded to projects supporting tourism and the visitor economy.