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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport how much funding from the public purse was allocated to support tourism in the East Midlands in 2016-17.

In 2016 there were 363,064 international visits to Nottinghamshire, up 29% on the previous year. These visitors spent £128 million in Nottinghamshire, up 23% on the previous year.

VisitBritain and VisitEngland are responsible for promoting the UK as a tourist destination, through a range of different initiatives and campaigns. VisitBritain receive annual grant-in-aid totalling £19.4m from DCMS and VisitEngland receive £7m.

The Discover England Fund, administered by VisitEngland, has invested in the development of tourism product across the East Midlands area. Projects such as The Explorer’s Road, the US Connections project and the England’s Literary Greats have all received funding.

Information from the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government indicate that Local Authorities spent £5.2m on tourism in 2016-17.