David Cameron urges UK to holiday at home
Friday, 13 August 2010
Prime Minister David Cameron is encouraging Brits to spend more money on holidaying in the UK.Currently, UK citizens spend 36% of their budget on UK holiday resorts but David Cameron wants that to increase to 50% and has asked the minister for tourism John Penrose to compile a report to see if that’s possible.
Speaking in Hyde Park, the PM urged people to be more “proud” of the UK and its history and said the country would have to “up our game” in order to break into the top five of the most-visited destinations in the world. The UK is currently sixth.
Cameron will take measures to speed up the process of getting visas for visitors from India and China in order to become more competitive internationally and said the focus for UK tourism should be on national parks, seaside towns and heritage sites, such as castles, country houses, museums, galleries, theatres and festivals.
Visit Britain estimates that domestic and overseas visitors to the UK contribute over £100 billion to the economy each year but also believes that spending from foreign visitors could increase from £16 billion to £31 billion by 2020.
