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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has conducted economic impact assessments of the effect of covid-19 on the UK tourist industry (a) regionally and (b) nationally.

DCMS has closely monitored the impact of the pandemic using a mix of external data sources, as well as commissioning independent assessments and forecasts. This includes analysis of regional-level differences as well as national impact.

VisitBritain calculated that, on a national level, the estimated combined loss to the UK economy in 2020 & 2021 was £147 billion, of which inbound loss was £50 billion and UK-wide domestic loss was £97 billion.

Identifying that tourism was one of the sectors of the economy hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK was one of the first countries to set out a post-Covid Tourism Recovery Plan in summer 2021 and to remove the barriers to both domestic and international visitors. The Department will continue to monitor impact as part of assessing progress against its objectives set out in the Tourism Recovery Plan.