§ Mr. GreenwayTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on the impact on tourism in England of the distribution by the Welsh Tourist Board of its marketing leaflet "Wales-The Big Country"; and what plans she has to enable the English Tourism Council to publish and distribute a similar leaflet in support of tourism in England. [52756]
§ Dr. HowellsThe Wales Tourist Board launched their marketing campaign in December 2001. The devolved administrations now make their own decisions on how best to promote tourism, taking into account local conditions and needs and the extent to which financial support is needed to address market failure in different parts of the country.
A booklet "Hidden England" has already been produced, and is available in Tourist Information Centres in England. I have allocated a further £20 million, matched by £20 million from the industry, for marketing to the overseas markets. The domestic market is already recovering strongly.
We are committed to improving the competitiveness of the English tourism market through an agenda of modernisation and long term strategic reform. We are currently considering how to provide better co-ordination of the marketing of England's tourism assets and will announce plans soon.