(4 years, 10 months ago)
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The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Greg Clark)
The Government’s modern industrial strategy sets out a long-term plan to boost the productivity and earning power of people throughout the UK. Sector deals bring industry and Government together in partnership to boost productivity in their sector and to ensure sectors are able to take advantage of major global changes such as those identified in the industrial strategy grand challenges. The tourism sector has the scale and geographical reach to deliver real change for local economies.
The deal that has been struck today means that the Government and industry have agreed a plan that will drive economic growth, underpin continued infrastructure investment and enhance the attractiveness of the sector as a long-term career.
Tourism zones will bring businesses and local organisations together to establish a co-ordinated strategy for growth in their local visitor economy—and a reduction in the impact of seasonality. Industry will deliver 30,000 apprenticeships in England per year by 2025 as well as leading a mentoring programme aimed at supporting 10,000 employees—so that they are more likely to remain in the sector.
The UK will continue to be Europe’s leading hub for hotel investment for the next decade with over 130,000 additional bedrooms added to accommodation stocks by 2025—with 75% of these outside of London.
A new independent tourism data hub will be created with support offered from some of our biggest travel companies. This will allow organisations, including SMEs, to make the most of the big data revolution to understand activity and product preferences in their area.
In conjunction with the sector deal, the UK Government have also published an international business events action plan. The action plan outlines in detail how the Government will support the business events industry in attracting, creating and growing international business events.
These mutual commitments are impressive but we want to go even further—ensuring that as many different visitors as possible can experience our tourism offer. That is why this deal commits to ensuring that the UK will become the most accessible tourism destination in Europe by 2025 and increasing the number of international disabled visitors by 33%.
Additionally, the introduction of sustainable development plans as part of the tourism zones policy sets a clear expectation on the sector to reduce its carbon footprint today, and in the future, helping the UK on its path to clean growth.
Taken together these measures are key in building a world-class experience economy and will ensure the tourism industry can continue to grow inbound visitor numbers by an estimated 25% by 2025. They will boost local economies by making best use of tourism assets throughout the year—ensuring we will be able to give the visitors of the future the very best of experiences throughout our country.
This is an ambitious deal—which is why joint delivery mechanisms are being established to ensure government and industry work closely together to deliver the plans. The UK Government will also work closely with the devolved Administrations—complementing their existing tourism strategies—and ensuring the benefits of the deal extend right across the UK. It is a deal that will support tourism and hospitality employees as the sector grows—helping it to remain a global leader, long into the future.
I will be placing a copy of this document in the Libraries of both Houses.
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