Government's tourism review ‘flawed'

The Government's review into tourism has been branded as "fundamentally flawed, limited in scope and ambition and ultimately redundant".

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is conducting a review into tourism spending and co-ordination, specifically focused on the role of marketing body VisitBritain.

But following a meeting between industry bodies and VisitBritain, the Tourism Alliance labelled the review as "inadequate to meet the strategic needs of the industry".

The Alliance said there were three of "major flaws" in the review:

• Its narrow focus on role and function of VisitBritain, failing to consider the bigger picture of tourism funding and structure.

• The funding decisions have already been made, before the review has begun. If the review recommends that industry needs increased public support to compete in the international market, will the DCMS and Treasury reverse the cuts?

• The DCMS has no power to implement changes the review might recommend as it does not control the activity of Visit Scotland, Visit Wales, the Department for Business, Regional Development Agenciess and local authorities.

The Alliance has called on the Government to undertake an independent review of the 1969 Tourism Act, which sets the overall structure of tourism support in UK; and concentrate on urgently funding the tourism legacy strategy for 2012 Olympic Games.

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By Daniel Thomas

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