§ Mr. PendryTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what measures diplomatic posts are taking to ensure that potential foreign visitors are aware of tourism opportunities in the United Kingdom. [156979]
§ Mr. WilsonDiplomatic Posts work closely with the British Tourist Authority overseas to promote the UK as a tourist destination. Since the outbreak of foot and mouth disease earlier this year posts have been implementing a pro-active public diplomacy campaign to provide the most up to date facts about how the UK is handling the disease.
At the Prime Minister's request posts have also redoubled their efforts to promote the message that Britain is open for business. This has included updating websites, placing articles, giving interviews and rebutting false allegations. The target audience for this activity has included the media, the travel industry and the local business community. Here we have held regular briefings for London-based foreign correspondents and have used the FCO's dedicated TV and radio services to feed stories into thousands of broadcasts around the world.