HC Deb 27 November 1985 vol 87 cc594-5W
63. Mr. Tom Cox

asked the Paymaster General what plans he has to give greater public support to the London tourist industry.

Mr. Trippier

The Government will continue to support the promotion of tourism in London, as elsewhere, through the English Tourist Board and the British Tourist Authority. The English Tourist Board provides an annual subvention to the non-statutory London Visitor and Convention Bureau and this too will continue. I am pleased by the bureau's efforts to increase its support from the private sector and I hope that the London boroughs will also recognise the importance of tourism to London's economy and the role which the LVCB can play in ensuring that tourism benefits are spread as widely as possible throughout the capital.

Mr. Pike

asked the Paymaster General if he will give the figures for those employed in the tourist industry for each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Mr. Trippier

The available information on employment in tourism-related industries is regularly published inBritish Business. Figures for 1981 to 1985 are given in the issues of 5–9 November 1984 and 23–29 August 1985, copies of which are available in the Library.