Issue 75 Winter 2018 £2.75
Visitors spent more than £1billion in Britain last year By Dominic Musgrave VISITORS spent more than £1billion in Britain last year as a result of activity by national tourism agency VisitBritain/ VisitEngland latest figures show. This means that for every pound invested in the agency, visitors spent £25 in Britain. As well as the UK Government investment, the agency had attracted £13 million of investment in cash and in-kind from commercial partners and delivered £2 million profit from its online shop – money which is reinvested into its activities to grow the value of tourism. The results, announced at the agency’s annual review, come on the back of a strong 2017 for inbound tourism. VisitBritain forecasts that it will beat its ambition of 40 million inbound visits by 2020 this year. Brits have also been taking more holidays at home with visits and spend up by six per cent in 2017. UK Minister for Tourism, Michael Ellis, said: “Britain’s tourism industry is booming. Last year was a very strong year for domestic and inbound tourism, with tens of billions of pounds going into our economy. “The Government, alongside VisitBritain/VisitEngland, is working with the sector to build on this success with an
emphasis on attracting major business events and investing in local tourism projects through the Discover England Fund. “Tourism shows the world the best of our nation. As we approach the UK’s exit from the European Union, we are absolutely committed to helping the industry continue to grow, promoting the country as a must-visit destination and ensuring that local communities benefit.” British Tourist Authority chairman Steve Ridgway added: “Tourism is the country’s shop window to the world. A £127billion powerhouse which continues to deliver for the British economy, creating jobs and driving economic growth right across the country. “Our third largest service export, tourism needs no trade deals to prosper. Britain is already competing strongly in our most valuable visitor source markets such as the US and in markets that are crucial for our future including China.” Domestic tourism in England had also seen success from the growth in holidays to more frequent short-breaks. “Domestic tourism accounted for almost 80 per cent of all tourism activity and £70billion was spent by domestic tourists in England last year, supporting millions of jobs.
Festival attracts record numbers THE 2018 Winter Stratford Literary Festival, which headlined some of the most respected writers and high-profile journalists, attracted record numbers selling over 2,000 tickets. As well as best-selling author, Jodi Picoult, the Festival hosted a programme of popular events. Many of the events sold out weeks before the Festival including those for historian and TV presenter, Lucy Worsley OBE and world affairs editor John Simpson CBE. Packed audiences also enjoyed talks from veteran broadcaster, Sir Michael Parkinson, Channel 4 News presenter Cathy Newman, economics editor Kamal Ahmed, former Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger, former standup comedian Viv Groskop, leading academic, Professor Diarmaid
MacCulloch and James Anthony, former Ford car worker. For younger audiences, there was a day of fun with the award-winning creator of best-selling Mr Gum books, Andy Stanton. More good news for the Festival is that it received a generous grant of £4,000 from Stratford Town Trust towards ‘Books with Friends’ – a free, informal book club for those over 55. Stratford Town Trust is a grant-giving charity dedicated to supporting local people and community projects. Since 2001 the Trust has distributed around £2million each year in a diverse programme of grant-making, from large grants to small levels of funding. The Spring Festival, which will celebrate its 12th year in 2019, will take place from April 28 – May 5.