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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of public funding for tourism in (a) Coventry and (b) the West Midlands in each of the last three years.

VisitBritain and VisitEngland are responsible for promoting the UK as a tourist destination, through a range of different initiatives and campaigns. In each of the last three years, VisitBritain has been receiving grant-in-aid totalling ca £19.9 million and VisitEngland ca £7.1 million from DCMS, as well as additional funds. For example, almost £2 million across 20/22 and 2022/23 to promote the Birmingham Commonwealth Games taking place in Summer 2022.

While the department does not hold information on individual local authorities' public funding for tourism, the government has continued to support the tourism sector in Coventry and the West Midlands throughout the past three years. In addition to the £45 million Discover England Fund England's Waterways project, Coventry City of Culture, and the Commonwealth Games, the government has provided over £37 billion of grants, loans and tax relief to the UK’s leisure, hospitality and tourism sectors since March 2020

Last September we published Nick de Bois' review of Destination Management Organisations in England, which looked specifically at how tourism is structured, organised and funded at a local level in England. We are now carefully considering the recommendations made by Nick de Bois and hope to publish a response in the coming weeks.