VisitBritain, the operational name of the British Tourism Authority, has launched a new tourism partnership strategy, which has been heralded by Maria Miller, the government’s culture secretary.
The new initiative is intended to pool the resources of the travel industry, the government and major organisations in the public and private sectors, with the intention of achieving long-term growth in tourism. The project is targeting the arrival of 40 million overseas visitors by 2020, with the expectation that they will spend in the region of £31.5 billion and, as a consequence, create 200,000 new jobs. These new jobs will build on the 8.3 percent of the population that is already employed in the UK’s tourism industry. If successful, the new initiative will see 9 million more visitors arriving by 2020 than arrived in 2012, and an increase in the amount that they spend that amounts to £12.9 billion.
To achieve these results, the partnership intends to build on Britain’s improved international image, increase engagement with the travel trade, broaden the product range on offer to inbound tourists and make Britain more accessible to overseas visitors. It specifically intends to build on the global awareness and image that was fostered by last year’s successful London Olympic Games.
The fast developing BRIC nations, Brazil, Russia, India and China, as well as the Gulf nations and the UK’s traditional tourism markets, including the USA, France and Germany, will receive the project’s prime focus.
VisitBritain hopes that this latest initiative will build on the success that it has achieved in directly contributing £900 million to the tourism industry in the UK and generating £24 million in funding from the private sector.
