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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to promote coastal tourism in the UK; and what recent assessment he has made of the potential effect on tourism of the UK leaving the EU (a) with and (b) without a deal.

VisitBritain and VisitEngland are responsible for promoting the UK as a tourist destination, which they do through a range of different initiatives and campaigns. VisitBritain sit on the Coastal Tourism Leadership Forum (run by the National Coastal Tourism Academy), helping to shape the Coastal Visitor Economy Vision and Action Plan. DCMS are observers at the forum. VisitEngland administer the £40m Discover England Fund which develops innovative products with customisable, bookable itineraries across England. The England’s Coast project is a good example of this and includes the North East coastline in its itineraries.

My colleagues in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government also provide support and funding to coastal areas through the Coastal Communities Fund and the Coastal Revival Fund, much of which has a tourism focus. They have also set up Coastal Community Teams around the country to support the development of the coastal economy.

The Tourism Sector Deal was announced on 28th June with the aim of boosting the sector’s productivity as we look forward to welcoming up to 9m more visitors a year in the future. As part of the Sector Deal, initiatives such as Tourism Zones will provide focused support for areas across the country. Coastal regions are among those who will be able to take part in the bidding process.

In terms of the impact of EU exit on tourism, we will remain an open and welcoming destination, and we want international visitors to experience all the wonderful coastlines, countryside, and culture that the UK has to offer.For example, the UK and the EU have proposed reciprocal visa-free travel arrangements to enable UK and EU citizens to continue to travel freely for tourism in the future. This is also the case in a no deal scenario. The Government has also confirmed that EU nationals can continue to travel on a national ID card until December 2020 and use e-gates when travelling on a passport.