Minister accepts japanese mission

By Gaby Huddart

For the first time ever a British cabinet minister is to lead an overseas tourism campaign with the purpose of encouraging more visitors to come to the UK.

National Heritage Secretary Virginia Bottomley will break new ground when she goes on a five-day visit to Japan next week, accompanied by 30 top hoteliers and tourism industry representatives.

Although the British Tourist Authority (BTA) organises about 15 tourism-boosting missions a year, it has never persuaded such a senior government figure to lead one before. It anticipates the visit will generate an extra £2m-£3m revenue for hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions as a result.

"The tourism industry is the most growing industry for the future and we must focus on our key markets," Mrs Bottomley told Caterer. "I told the BTA I would go on one overseas trip for them and they decided I should go to Japan."

The BTA's chief executive Anthony Sell said he picked Japan for Mrs Bottomley's trip - labelled the Elegant Britain Mission 1996 - because it is an increasingly important market for inbound tourists.

"Japan is in the top five as far as tourists' spending goes," he said. "We got 642,000 Japanese visitors last year, who spent £553m, and we would like to see a 10% increase this year.

"Mrs Bottomley will impress the Japanese particularly because she's a lady cabinet minister and the Japanese appreciate elegance," he added.

Among the hotel groups sending representatives on the campaign are Thistle, Forte and English Lakes Hotels.

"This is important because the Japanese market is brilliant for us right now," said Norbert Petersen, senior operations director at Thistle Hotels. "The exchange rate is fantastic, they have lots of money and we need to do all we can to encourage them to come here."

The mission is being 85% funded by hotels and other companies sending delegates, and 15% by the BTA.