Tourism and Hospitality

Lord Gardiner of Kimble Excerpts

Thursday 12th June 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble (Con)]

My Lords, first, I also congratulate the noble Lord on securing this debate; it is clear from your Lordships’ experience that it has resulted in an outstanding one.

A number of questions have been asked, some in some detail. I hope that your Lordships will forgive me if I write to them in some detail on those that I do not come to. For some of the matters, a rather quick reply will not satisfy anyone. There are details on some of the visa issues, in particular, that are worthy of a proper and detailed response.

I hope that the noble Lord, Lord Harrison, will not take this amiss, but I thought that he said something about the Government and contracting the economy. I will look at Hansard, but I want to say specifically that the Government absolutely recognise that tourism is vital to the future of the UK economy. Indeed, it is central to the Government’s strategy for growth. According to the recent Deloitte report, the direct and indirect contribution of the tourism economy amounts to £127 billion, supporting more than 3 million jobs.

Turning to EU tourism, in 2012, there were 534 million tourist arrivals from within and outside Europe. That was about 52% of all international tourist arrivals globally, and around two-thirds of these arrivals were from other EU member states. The data from 2010 show that 3.4 million tourism industry enterprises employed an estimated 15.2 million people in the EU.

VisitEngland—in connection with the EU—works very closely with counterparts from across the EU through the National Tourism Board Forum, which comprises representatives from Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, France, Malta, Denmark, Austria, Montenegro and Belgium. This has led to some exciting joint campaigns, such as the Tour de Manche cycling route, which is a cycling trail that includes Normandy, Brittany, Jersey, Devon and Dorset. Furthermore, the Minister for Tourism regularly engages with her counterparts from Europe; for example, the UK hosted the annual meeting of Tourism Ministers from the G20 countries—known as the T20 summit—last year.

On jobs and skills in the sector, I am most grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Whitchurch, the noble Lord, Lord Harrison, and my noble friend Lord Lee for their welcome—and I think there is a general welcome—of the tourism industry council. I will take this opportunity to explain that as best I can, but that explanation will form part of the detailed response, because obviously I want to give as much information as possible. That is a partnership between the Government and the tourism sector which will focus on improving skills—I hope that the noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Whitchurch, and other noble Lords will be pleased—increasing the quality and quantity of jobs available and boosting enterprise in the industry. The new council will be chaired jointly by the Minister for Sport, Tourism and Equalities, the Minister for Skills and Enterprise and Hilton’s president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The council will hold its inaugural meeting next month and will be made up of representatives from VisitBritain, VisitEngland, the Tourism Alliance—a body of 50 tourism industry organisations that represent 200,000 businesses of all sizes—and will include industries engaged in hospitality, entertainment, travel and accommodation. I expect action, and am looking for it. In response to my noble friend Lord Lee, I point out that representatives from other departments will be invited to attend as necessary, depending on each meeting’s agenda, and so will other relevant organisations. I specifically emphasise, as I said before, that representatives from SMEs are members of that council.

In response to my noble friend Lord Caithness, who asked what the Government seek to achieve, this is a partnership. It is about the responsibilities of government and about working with organisations and businesses to ensure that we get the best for the country and the industry. The commitment of the industry to create jobs and support young people is also highlighted by the British Hospitality Association’s initiative to “inspire the next generation”. Industry leaders have already pledged almost 6,000 new hospitality jobs, apprenticeships and work placements for young people by 2015. I particularly note what my noble friend Lord Shipley said about the importance of young people, as did other noble Lords.

The noble Lord, Lord Harrison, quite rightly mentioned apprenticeships. The Government’s apprenticeship programme provides proven benefits to both employers and apprentices. That is being achieved by trailblazers, which are models of best practice. The Prime Minister recently announced the next phase of that programme, and I am pleased to say that two of those trailblazers have been attributed to the tourism sector. Once delivered, those trailblazers will increase the quality and viability of apprenticeships with the highest standards to be attained.

The Government’s tourism strategy focuses on delivering a first-class welcome for visitors and providing a high-quality offer. Between 2011 and 2015, £100 million will be invested—50:50 matched between the public and private sector—into a marketing campaign via VisitBritain, working with the industry to market what Britain has best to offer. Over the same period, a further £65 million has been invested into the tourism sector of the GREAT campaign, for both inbound and domestic marketing. In 2014-15, we are investing more than £5 million of GREAT funding into promoting Britain to countries within the EU. Between 2011 and 2015, the GREAT and other international campaigns are expected to deliver 4.7 million extra visits from overseas and £2.3 billion in extra visitor spend. I am pleased to report that we are on track to achieve this target, with extremely encouraging figures from last year. Through VisitBritain’s growth strategy for inbound tourism, Delivering a Golden Legacy, this Government want to attract 40 million visitors a year by 2020, with a spend of £31.5 billion. This target will support more than 200,000 extra jobs across Britain.

I want to talk a bit about London. While London is a key gateway to the country, we must and do market all the wonderful destinations across the UK. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are all represented on the VisitBritain board, and the GREAT campaign promotes the whole of the UK. London now draws in more than 50% of all visits and spend from overseas visitors, as noble Lords have said, and we should celebrate the fact that people want to visit what many are now calling the world’s capital. London contains many of the world-leading museums. We have heard about the British Museum and the association with it of my noble friend Lady Wheatcroft. According to the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, it was the most visited of all institutions, visited 6.7 million times in 2013. However, we need a London-plus approach. This has been raised by a number of noble Lords, and I very much agree with my noble friend Lord Shipley about the opportunities that this presents—and, indeed, how could Wales have a better champion than the noble Baroness, Lady Andrews? This is very much something that VisitBritain needs to do in promoting Wales. It works hard to promote the whole of Britain overseas, which very much includes Wales. But in feeding back information from this debate, I think that her words about the glories of Wales resonate with me, and I shall definitely speak to Ministers on those points.

In the London-plus approach for overseas visitors, we wish to build on the big increases in inbound visitor numbers and spend which the rest of the UK saw in 2013. Edinburgh Castle attracted 1.4 million visits last year; then there were the cultural events surrounding Derry-Londonderry’s status as UK City of Culture. Glastonbury is now the world’s largest music festival. There is so much to visit beyond London, and for us to market. My noble friend Lord Caithness mentioned the Castle of Mey, and Capability Brown. Certainly, if I had a park associated with Capability Brown, I would be very sure to include that in my marketing. My noble friend Lord Shipley spoke about Northumberland and the great opportunities presented to us by the celebration of the glory of the landscape made by Capability Brown. The noble Baroness, Lady Andrews, referred to the value of culture, heritage and tourism. I was particularly struck by the huge improvement in Stonehenge, which, again, is such an important part of our heritage. My noble friend Lord Lee mentioned the numbers motivated to visit, and cited heritage. My figures show that four out of 10 leisure visitors to the UK cite heritage as the primary motivation for their visit.

I cannot resist reading in Hansard the resonant account of the journey around the museums and activities of this great country related by my noble friend Lady Wheatcroft, who also highlighted the opportunities afforded to the great city of Liverpool through the International Festival for Business. The festival is important not only for Liverpool and the people who live and work there but engenders pride in the country and shows that this is a great place to do business.

The noble Lord, Lord Harrison, mentioned agritourism and archaeology tourism. All these facets of what this country can provide constitute opportunities that we need to grasp. Music tourism accounted for a total spend of £2.1 billion last year. The noble Lord, Lord Berkeley of Knighton, mentioned landscape. As a countryman, I must be careful that I do not wax too lyrical about the glories of the landscape. The variety of landscape which this little group of islands has is quite exceptional. In providing modern infrastructure we have a responsibility to ensure that it is sensitively built wherever possible and that local people have the opportunity to say yea or nay to it. All that is very important; we should cherish our landscape.

The noble Baroness, Lady Billingham, who is a champion of sport, mentioned sports tourism, as did my noble friend Lady Wheatcroft. I am very pleased to hold a meeting shortly with the Rugby Football Union about the World Cup next year and, of course, the Tour de France will start in Yorkshire. Therefore, we should celebrate what our country provides in this area.

The number of people crossing international borders is now more than 1 billion per annum. Although the United States and Europe remain our biggest source of visitors, by 2030 China will have 1.4 billion affluent consumers. China is a priority market and a significant part of the GREAT campaign. Furthermore, we have already seen positive results with regard to Chinese visitor numbers, whose spend has increased by 63.8% to £491.7 million, which shows the opportunities that are presented. We need, and would welcome, more of those visitors. That is why the Home Office has announced a package of measures to improve visa services for Chinese visitors, including streamlining visa applications between the UK and Schengen areas, which has already been well received. According to the Home Office, 96% of Chinese people who apply for a visa get one. Indeed, from this summer there will be a 24-hour super-priority visa. In addition, all the UK visa application centres in China are undergoing refurbishment to include the GREAT branding.

VisitBritain has also recently launched its China Welcome campaign. This partnership between VisitBritain and British tourism businesses is aimed at delivering exceptional service for Chinese visitors. This will help make Britain the destination of choice for the rapidly growing Chinese market. A number of high-profile businesses have already signed up to the programme, providing information in Mandarin, adapting their product offer, and attracting a significant number of Chinese visitors as a result.

I am conscious of what my noble friend Lord Shipley said about languages. Many institutions have sought to increase the amount of information they provide in many different languages but I will pass on those important comments as part of my message to the Tourism Minister.

A number of noble Lords mentioned air passenger duty and the decision of the Chancellor of the Exchequer to eliminate the two highest rates of that duty charged on long-haul flights. This will cut tax for millions of passengers travelling to and from key markets such as China and India. I am well aware of the points that were made by my noble friend Lord Caithness, and the noble Lord, Lord Harrison, which questioned whether the duty should be cut further. All I can say is that taxation is kept under review but this income is a key revenue stream and money would have to be found from other sources if the issue were addressed in the way that the noble Lords suggested.

I should also mention VAT, which is clearly a matter for the Chancellor. Taxes in this country are regularly reviewed but the Chancellor is currently not convinced that a change in the rate from 20% to 5% is affordable.

Domestic tourism is vital and represents 80% of the sector. The first two Holidays at Home are GREAT campaigns, and other related VisitEngland activities, generated an additional spend of £380 million. We will build on that with the third Holidays at Home are GREAT campaign, which began in March.

The noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Whitchurch, mentioned coastal towns and seaside resorts. They are an important part of our heritage. Many piers have sadly disappeared over the years, but they were part of my childhood when I visited the arcades on them. Since 2012, DCLG’s Coastal Communities Fund has awarded grants to 104 organisations across the UK to the value of £53.6 million. This funding is forecast to deliver 7,655 jobs and help attract around £90 million of additional funds to coastal areas, which are a vital part of the UK’s tourism offer. I hope that this will please the noble Baroness, Lady Andrews, because one such grant of almost £290,000 was to the Milford Haven Port Authority in Wales. This promotes the maritime heritage of the port.

Between 2012 and 2015, VisitEngland will receive £19.8 million of regional funding through BIS for Growing Tourism Locally. VisitEngland is working with a variety of local tourism bodies seeking better links with local enterprise partnerships. I will write to your Lordships about those partnerships. I am also aware that there have been cuts in funding, which the noble Baroness, Lady Jones, mentioned. Across government there have been cuts—but, importantly, marketing budgets for both our tourism boards have actually increased.

The noble Baroness, Lady Billingham, and my noble friend Lord Lee mentioned daylight hours. There is a strong feeling in government that we need consensus from Scotland and Northern Ireland if we are to take the issue forward. Particularly in this year, I hope that your Lordships will understand that.

As to the future, my noble friend Lady Seccombe rightly stressed the importance of welcome. I am pleased that the Anholt Nation Brands Index shows that Britain has improved and moved up into the top 10. We are in fourth and third spot for tourism and national brand. I very much agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Andrews; not only do we want visitors but we want them to come back again and again.

The tourism industry is extremely competitive. We need to ensure that that is kept very much under watch. However, I very much wish all who work in the industry every success. We have so much for visitors to enjoy: the arts, creative industries, museums, music, culture, sports, historic buildings and gardens, cathedrals and churches, cities, towns, villages, shores and countryside across all parts of the United Kingdom. The Government’s actions are all designed to ensure that tourism and hospitality play their part in the nation’s prosperity and encourage many more to visit all parts of our great country.