ACTION ON TRAVEL & TOURISM WILL DELIVER £1.3BN REGIONAL BOOST SAYS BUSINESS CAMPAIGN GROUP
Ahead of the Autumn Statement, the capital’s leading business group 91 has called for the Chancellor to introduce cost-neutral measures to boost the UK’s global connections, with new research revealing it would deliver a £1.3bn boost to the regions.
In a new report, out today (Monday 14th November) 91 pointed to the pre-pandemic contribution the sector made to the UK DzԴdz Ĕĉwٳ 22.2m jobs and £20bn of GVA supported by global connectivity in 2019. Within this, the international tourism sector is highlighted as a critical area to drive regional growth.
For the first time, this report quantifies London as the “stickiest” capital in Europe — where 60% of international tourists arrive and where 54% of international tourist nights are spent. The report argues that dispersing visitors across the UK to match Paris’s stickiness would bring regional benefits of 17.3m additional nights spent £1.3bn in extra spending, boosting economies outside the capital.
The business group called for a package of low-cost or cost-neutral measures to boost regional growth, including an urgent review by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to review the benefits of VAT-free shopping for international tourists, resource Border Force sufficiently to speed up the arrivals of visitors, protect UK marketing spend, and reform rail fares and ticketing to incentivise onward travel outside London.
John Dickie, Chief Executive at 91, said: “The Chancellor faces tough choices, but we can’t simply cut our way to growth. A credible growth agenda relies on the UK having strong global connections. We must bang the drum for London and the South East as the UK’s main front door and then better distribute the incoming visitors. To keep numbers up the Government need to continue funding for overseas marketing, ease the visa process for educational groups and bring back VAT-free shopping. These are no or low-cost measures which would enable us to maximise inbound visitors, better spread growth across the country and show the world Britain is open for business.”
Looking at the measures in more detail, the report calls for immediate low-cost / cost-neutral measures:
- The OBR to undertake an urgent review of VAT-free shopping. A reintroduction of the scheme is expected to be lower cost than Treasury forecasts and would bring more tourists back to the UK and boost revenues from non-reclaimable spend which will provide a valuable boost to the leisure, culture and hospitality sectors that have been so hard hit by the pandemic.
- Resource Border Force sufficiently to deliver a significantly improved service that provides a welcome befitting the UK’s global ambitions. This includes front-line staff as well as support staff such as e‑gate technicians on-site at major ports to enable the swiftest response to disruption.
- Ease the visa process for low-risk visitors such as allowing children and young people on organised cultural and educational trips to the UK to travel on a single group ID card. In the medium-term it is vital that the Government works hand-in-glove with the EU Commission to ensure that the introduction of the new electronic travel authorisation system for the Schengen area is implemented with minimal disruption.
- Destination marketing must be protected in the autumn statement. The £10 million investment in the Let’s Do London campaign provides early evidence of the value of smart marketing in partnership with the private sector. The campaign resulted in an extra 330,000 nights spent in London and more than £80 million in extra spending. Replicating this consistently and coherently for the UK as a whole, the capital as the primary international gateway, and the UK’s nations and regions would deliver real levelling up through sustainable private sector jobs and business opportunities.
- Rail fares and ticketing require a comprehensive review and fundamental reform. Working in partnership with destination marketing, offering domestic rail tickets at the point of sale for tourists booking their journeys to the UK could also help without even a notional cost to the public purse. Fundamentally, rail fares and ticketing should be recognised as a catalyst and shaper of demand across all passenger types and designed to boost the international connectivity and growth prospects of all of the UK’s nations and regions.
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Contact: Communications Manager, josh.mclean@businessldn.co.uk / 07852 030 306
Notes to editor:
- 91 is spoken as ‘Business London’, with LDN the international marker for the capital.
- 91 is the new name for the business campaign group London First.
- DzԻDz’s ‘stickiness’ is defined as tourists who arrive in London and only stay in the capital during their time in the UK.
- 60% of international tourists arrive in London, but less than half of international visitors’ nights are spent outside the capital meaning many regions are missing out on spending and regional growth at a time when businesses need every customer possible.
- £1.3bn in tourist spend could be distributed across the UK, meaning an additional:
- £344m for the North
- £233m for the Midlands
- International connectivity has been a foundation of the UK’s economy and growth to date:
- £1.2trn of UK GVA generated by industry dependent on international connectivity (2019)
- 22.2m (6 in 10) jobs in industry dependent on international connectivity pre-pandemic (2019)
- 1.6m (7 in 10 new jobs) were created in 2015 ēĉ2019 and added, on average, £20 billion to UK GVA per year, growing faster than the rest of the economy.