Julia Lopez appointed tourism minister

Conservative MP for Hornchurch and Upminster Julia Lopez has been named as the new tourism minister.

Lopez takes over the role from Stuart Andrew who had been appointed in November 2022.

Commenting on her appointment, VisitBritain said: "We are delighted to welcome the Department for Culture, Media and Sport's appointment of Julia Lopez MP as the new Minister for Media, Tourism and Creative Industries.

"We look forward to working with her to drive economic growth right across Britain within our sector."

Andy Fenner, CEO of the UK Short Term Accommodation Association, said, "We're pleased with the news that Julia Lopez MP has been appointed as the new tourism minister. We enjoyed a great deal of engagement with her predecessors and are keen to continue a similar level of dialogue with Ms Lopez and her team about the sustainable and responsible growth of our industry.

"The short term rental sector is a hugely important one to the UK tourism economy contributing over £27bn to the UK economy each year and providing 496,000 jobs, many of which are in the UK's rural communities that are deprived of other investment. As well as creating jobs, the sector also supports local businesses in terms of its guests using local amenities and hospitality outlets and also through the use of a supply chain of services such as housekeeping, maintenance and household provisions from businesses based in those local communities investing back in their economies."

Lopez had previous held the role of Minister of State for Media, Data, and Digital Infrastructure.