Why it's perfect time to stay UK 'There's no better time for the UK Government to persuade people to support British holidays&...

Why it's perfect time to stay UK

'There's no better time for the UK Government to persuade people to support British holidays'

Travel agents and tour operators are getting hot under the collar about government-backed efforts to encourage British people to stay at home this summer to support the UK tourism industry.

Mark Tanzer, chief executive of ABTA, The Travel Association is extremely annoyed about the Government backing a campaign which favours domestic tourism over the ‘already-struggling’ international tourism market.

'We are very concerned that the Government is sponsoring a marketing campaign that appears to actively discourage UK holidaymakers from taking a foreign break: I’m sure the public want to make up their own mind about where to go on holiday. The outbound tourism industry employs hundreds of thousands of people throughout the UK and generates £27 billion annually in direct spend, making a fundamental and significant contribution to the economic health of the country.'

What he seems to be saying is that if British people want to support Britain they should go abroad for their holidays… and, besides, what business is it of the Government where we choose to take our annual break?

This is all total baloney, of course. Surely there can be no better time for the UK Government to try and persuade people to support British holidays than in this year of all years (London Olympics, Queen’s Diamond Jubilee etc).

The more pertinent point here is what business it is of ABTA to try and tell the Government what it should be doing?

Foreign package holidays have ruled the roost for the past 50 years: domestic UK tourism has been largely neglected and unloved by the Government. Why, for example, is there no Ministry for Tourism given the amount of cash the industry generates?

If the foreign holiday business is having tough times, well that’s business for you – what goes up can also come down. I don’t see how ABTA can expect the Government to think about supporting foreign holidays that take money from the UK economy.

Instead of sniping at domestic tourism, surely it should be in travel agencies’ interests to find a way in which they can help promote UK as well as foreign tourism. ABTA needs to wake up and smell the English Breakfast Tea...

(By Frank Barrett, Travel Editor, The Mail on Sunday)