Our Visitor Economy The sector is the region’s largest industry and biggest employer with a diverse offering dominated by SMEs, many innovative, entrepreneurial, and adaptable. It has the potential to grow quickly. In 2019, the overall region’s visitor economy was worth more than £10bn, employing around 220,000 people. There were around 10m staying trips and more than 160m visitors. The pandemic has disproportionately impacted on the young in our coastal areas, towns and cities, and this collective Destination Development Plan will help stimulate recovery as well as growing the local visitor economy. Although we are classified economically as being in the South East, this region has pockets of severe deprivation, both urban and rural, so we would benefit from levelling up to ensure our residents have access to similar opportunities and investments as those in more affluent areas around London.
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A key challenge for the sector is the relatively low productivity at £26,000 GVA per job (less than half the value for the ICT sector in comparison). However, Deloitte estimates the tourism GVA multiplier to be 2.8, meaning that for every £1,000 generated in direct tourism GVA, a further £1,800 is supported elsewhere in the economy through supply chain and consumer spending. Nonetheless, jobs in the visitor economy are a good place for non-graduates to start learning valuable life skills, and the sector can be an excellent route to social mobility. A priority for the sector is to invest in boosting productivity, encouraging innovation, and enhancing digital skills. This will require much stronger collaboration to build and promote a higher quality product if we are to attract higher-value visitors all year round.
