Tourism (Hansard, 12 February 1993)

§ Mr. Pendry
To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if, following the change in the value of the pound sterling, he will reassess the case for central funding of the promotion of tourism in England.

§ Mr. Key
I have no plans to do so.

§ Mr. Elletson
To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if he will make a statement about the importance of sports-related tourism.

§ Mr. Key
The relationship between sports and tourism is strong and mutually beneficial. The Sports Council estimates that some 11 per cent. of expenditure by domestic and overseas tourists is sport-related.
My Department provides grant in aid to the Sports Council to promote sport and leisure activities in Britain, and this includes activities undertaken by tourists.
We have already committed up to £75 million towards an arena, a velodrome and for the preparation of the site for the Olympic stadium. If Manchester is successful, then the benefits to British tourism, particularly in the north-west, will be considerable.

§ Mr. Pendry
To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage, pursuant to his oral answer to the hon. Member for Eastbourne, (Mr. Waterson) of 25 January,Official Report, column 694, what assessment his Department has made of the levels of investment in tourism-related projects since the decision to suspend grants made under section 4 of the Tourism Development Act 1969; and what the figure was in 1989.

§ Mr. Key
The English tourist board (ETB) publishes a biannual survey of investment in tourism-related projects. According to ETB figures, projects with a total value of £2,921 million (excluding those with a value of less than £500,000) were under construction in England between January and June 1989. The corresponding figure for the six months from January to June 1992 was £1,062 million.
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This level of investment is many times higher than the total value of projects assisted by the section 4 scheme in England. In the 1988–89 financial year, expenditure on section 4 grants amounted to £13.2 million and total investment in projects assisted by these grants was just over £123 million.