Newsletter
WTA Newsletter Highlights - Mid August 2010
‘From the top’
From nowhere, the Prime Minister of Great Britain & Northern Ireland delivers an early morning speech from The Serpentine Gallery in London’s Hyde Park supporting Tourism. Supporting the decade of opportunity, presented by Ryder Cup, Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, Rugby World Cup and other possibilities.
And he quotes the importance of Tourism to the UK economy: “But tell me this: which industry is our third highest export earner behind chemicals and financial services? Manufacturing? IT? Education? No, it’s tourism. And it’s not just a great export earner. There’s also a huge domestic market too.
“UK domestic tourists made 126 million overnight trips last year – spending £22 billion in the process. In total, tourism contributes £115 billion to our economy every year. It employs nearly ten per cent of our national workforce.”
And then he decides that he will ask the Minister (John Penrose) whether it is realistic to adopt a target of increasing domestic tourism to 50% of UK residents’ holiday expenditure from the current level of 36%.
I think we should be delirious that Tourism’s economic significance is out of the bag. Isn’t this what we have all been striving for since whenever …? So, why is there such reluctance to throw away the placards?
Chris Osborne, WTA Chair - chris@wta.org.uk or 01834 842886.
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