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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent estimate his Department has made of the total net economic effect of overseas tourists visiting (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England in each of the last five years; and what assessment he has made of the impact of the covid-19 outbreak on the contribution of overseas tourism to the economy in those areas.

VisitBritain is responsible for collecting data regarding the volume and value of inbound visits to the regions and nations of Great Britain, including the West Midlands. In 2019, inbound visitors made 2.43m visits to the West Midlands, with a total expenditure of £1.05bn. In 2018, they made 2.2m visits to the region, spending £957.36m; in 2017, 2.33m, spending £896.78m; in 2016, 2.22m, spending £915.72m; and in 2015, 2.11m visits, spending £873.68m.

England as a whole received 36.11m inbound visits in 2019, with visitors spending £24.78bn. In 2018, it received 35.04m visits, with visitors spending £23.12bn. In 2017, 36.17m visits were made to England, spending £24.94bn. In 2016, 34.52m visits were made, spending £22.54bn, and in 2015, inbound visitors made 32.57m visits, spending £21.15bn.

Due to low sample sizes, it is not possible to provide an estimate of the economic impact of overseas visitors to Coventry.

VisitBritain data on the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the contribution of overseas tourism to the economy in the areas mentioned is not yet available, though VisitBritain will continue to collect and publish these data sets.

More widely, the government recognises the significant impact of COVID-19 on inbound tourism with, for example, inbound flight arrivals to the UK down around 90% on 2019 levels for much of 2020 and into 2021. The government has published a Tourism Recovery Plan which sets a framework to recover inbound visitor numbers and spend to 2019 levels by the end of 2023 – two years faster than independent forecasts predict. The Plan sets out government support for the tourism sector, including the allocation of at least £19 million to domestic and international marketing activity.