The Labour party has said tourism would play a ‘key role’ in its plans for growth and jobs in the country if it were to come back into power following the next General Election.
Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Harriet Harman has announced a plan to boost tourism that would include an ‘efficient and robust visa system’ that would include exit checks; a rail fare structure to make train travel cheaper and a ‘swift decision’ on airport capacity.
She also pledged that the party would support small businesses by cutting business rate bills, and would work with the industry to build jobs for young people, while also look to promote and regenerate seaside towns, arts, heritage and culture.
Harman said: “Tourism is an economic powerhouse for Britain. But for too long tourism has not been given the recognition it deserves. This Tory-led Government’s approach has been patchy. Ministers have failed to take a properly joined-up approach.
“The government has a responsibility to identify and support growth and to rebalance the Economy. It’s not about identifying individual companies – picking winners – but it is about picking winning sectors.”
ABTA welcomed the announcement.
The association’s head of public affairs Stephen D’Alfonso said: “Today’s announcement on tourism from the Shadow Culture Secretary is welcomed recognition of the job and growth creating potential of the travel and tourism industry from Labour’s front-bench. ABTA has been making this case for some months across the political spectrum, since the launch of our manifesto of key asks in July. It is excellent to see so many of these asks covered off in Labour’s plan for tourism. Our industry, domestic, inbound and outbound, has a powerful and inspiring story to tell.
“Travel and tourism creates jobs and wealth in every constituency across the country, and this announcement highlights the importance that Labour has put on the industry as an economic generator, and a vote winner. We will watch with interest to see the priority given to tourism by the other major parties on the road to 2015.”
What the other parties have said
Labour has made the largest noise about tourism during speeches in the last few weeks in the run up to the General Election next year.
David Cameron said the Conservatives will look to act on the findings of the Davies Commission when it comes to airport capacity, but has not said which airport it favours.
Changes in the Air Passenger Duty (APD) bands this year gave a hint that the party is listening to concerns, as were the efforts made to promote Britain during the Olympics.
Measures have also been put in place to ease the visa regulations for Chinese visitors, but there are still a lot of issues both the inbound and outbound sectors are pushing. Is the focus with the Conservatives too much on inbound tourism?
Last week the Liberal Democrats voted against extra capacity at any UK airport and it seems unlikely the party would scrap APD. This faced criticism by the industry.
GTMC CEO Paul Wait said: “As an island nation business travel is essential to our future growth and prosperity. The time for dragging our heels on airport capacity is over.
“The UK cannot afford yet more delay and uncertainty on this critical issue. Any further procrastination will only see more business travellers choosing to use non-UK airports and the UK economy will lose out.”
A UKIP-run UK could see even tighter visa regulations for the country with Nigel Farage keen for an Australian-style immigration policy. Farage would also like to see the UK leave the European Union.
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