§ Mr. Peter AinsworthTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans she has to make further funds available for the marketing of Britain as a tourist destination. [120]
§ Mr. GreenwayTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what additional funding for marketing she expects to provide to the British Tourist Authority in response to the foot and mouth disease crisis. [189]
§ Tessa Jowell[holding answer 25 June 2001]: As in other sectors of the economy, businesses themselves take the lead in marketing their services to overseas markets. We as a Government back those efforts only where they need special co-ordination. In this case the Government have pledged additional funding of £14.2 million, supplemented by £2.1 million re-deployed by the British Tourist Authority from existing plans. This provides in full what was sought by the British Tourist Authority, after full consultation with the industry, for the whole of 2001.
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§ Mr. Peter AinsworthTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions she has had with the European Investment Bank regarding assistance for tourism businesses affected by foot and mouth disease. [135]
§ Tessa Jowell[holding answer 25 June 2001]: I have had no discussions with the European Investment Bank. However, Government Ministers have discussed the problems of business affected by the outbreak with the British Bankers Association. The association has undertaken to help businesses by providing extra lending, deferring repayments, waiving arrangement fees and providing information and advice.
§ Mr. Peter AinsworthTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when she was first informed about deduction of VAT from the money paid to the British Tourist Authority as part of the tourism recovery plan; and if she will make a statement. [3852]
§ Tessa Jowell[holding answer 13 July 2001]: The British Tourist Authority brought to my Department's attention on 24 May that, under their long-standing agreement with Customs and Excise, VAT would need to be payable for goods and services paid for with the additional funds allocated for the authority's recovery plan. We are assessing the implications of this with BTA, and the recovery plan is going ahead as planned.
§ Mr. WatersonTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what proposals she has to encourage domestic tourism in England. [2435]
§ Dr. Howells[holding answer 16 July 2001]: Building on "Tomorrow's Tourism", the sound strategy for tourism that we developed in our previous term of office, we will also consider giving greater emphasis to three areas: (a) changing the perception of the industry as an employer through further Government-industry partnerships; (b) continuing to drive for better and less regulation so that the industry can concentrate on growth and increasing our international competitiveness; and (c) examining whether the marketing of Britain as a tourism destination could be more efficiently co-ordinated.
The recent foot and mouth disease outbreak has highlighted the importance of tourism to the domestic economy and we will do what we can to ensure a speedy and sustained recovery. In addition to taking forward strategy, experience so far has shown that we clearly need better and more up-to-date statistics and economic data for the sector and we will need to work with the industry to that end.