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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to support the tourism sector.

The British tourism industry is worth £58 billion to the economy and employs millions of people around the country. The Government is implementing a range of measures to support the sector and maximise its benefits for local economies, including working with VisitBritain to champion visits to Britain to a worldwide audience through its ‘Starring Great Britain’ campaign.

Since 2022, DCMS has delivered significant reform of destination management devolving accountability to a regional and local level to promote regional growth. We now have a network of 41 Local Visitor Economy Partnerships (LVEPs) across England and two Regional Destination pilots in the North East and West Midlands. In March, we announced a £1.35 million funding boost to help the Destination pilots attract even more tourists and investment to the UK over the next year.

The newly established Visitor Economy Advisory Council brings together industry leaders, regional voices and expert advisers to do far more that will attract overseas and overseas visitors and unlock growth. The Council will co-design and deliver a new growth strategy that will meet my ambition to welcome 50 million inbound visitors a year by 2030, as part of this Government’s Plan for Change.