Torbay MP Adrian Sanders has called on the Government to revise its approach to the tourist industry after figures revealed a sharp drop in tourist visits to the South West region in the past year.
Figures released today show that in January to March 2008 there were over 3.5 million visitors but this fell to 2.75 million for the same period this year.
This fall, if sustained, is likely to cause considerable damage to several local economies in the South West, including Torbay.
Mr Sanders is advocating greater investment in Visit Britain, which brings over £30 into tourist economies for every £1 spent, as well as a coordinated cross departmental strategy to promote tourism by integrating domestic transport networks and by providing better information across public services.
Adrian said: “The fall in visitor numbers was expected with the deepening recession but the drop is sharper than was anticipated. In the past few years we have seen severe cuts to the marketing budgets for the tourist industry and the responsibility for this spread around councils, regional quangos and Visit Britain.”
“At a national level there is no co-ordination and dwindling support, which may prove to be devastating to our resort economies.”
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