Tourism

Baroness Coussins Excerpts

Tuesday 13th May 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

I hope that, by the time the programmes for broadband have finished, all parts of the country, particularly those remote areas which are such wonderful parts of rural Britain to visit, will have benefited. I suspect that I am in difficulties in looking at an alternative but, of course, tourism is made up of many small businesses. That is an area which we are very keen to support. Small and medium-sized enterprises are a key feature of tourism’s success.

[Baroness Coussins (CB)]

Is the Minister aware that the National Gallery is offering its audio guide for its current main exhibition in English only? Visitors from Italy, Spain and France have said that they cannot understand it and feel excluded. Should not all global institutions hoping to benefit from tourism provide their public information resources in several languages, as we do in this House?

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

My Lords, the noble Baroness makes a strong point. I know that as part of the China Ready programme, for instance, many of the major visitor centres now have their guides in Cantonese and Mandarin. I encourage the British Museum, a great institution which has the largest number of visitors in this country—many millions—and all museums to look at language opportunities.