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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support the UK's coastal tourism industry.

Our national tourism agency, VisitBritain, is launching a new international and domestic campaign this month, which will focus on driving visitor recovery in the UK. This is additional to the Tourism Recovery Plan, which was published by DCMS in June 2021.

VisitBritain and The National Lottery’s current ‘Days Out’ campaign supports the domestic tourism industry by stimulating demand for off-season domestic day trips to visitor attractions and experiences for young families. Attraction examples include Blackpool Heritage Tram Tours, Clacton Pier, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, and various locations of SEA LIFE.

Coastal tourism is an important part of the British tourism sector. 10% of all visits to the UK include going to the coast or beaches and 11% of all visits include walking along the coast.

The business advice hub, our business webinars, We’re Good to Go and DMO support all available to the sector, including those in coastal locations.

Coastal destinations were supported via the Discover England Fund as part of the England’s Coast project up to 2021. VisitBritain continues to support their initiatives, through marketing, PR and business support.

Press trips have taken place on coastal destinations and continue to be part of VisitBritain’s ongoing campaigns and activities where the pandemic has allowed international and domestic travel.