Department for Culture Media and Sport

tourism

We are responsible for supporting the British tourism industry.

The tourism and hospitality industry makes a real contribution to our national and local economies. Tourism is often an underestimated industry. But in Government, it’s a priority industry. It is our third highest export earner and in most years is among the top 6 biggest sectors of our economy. It generates around £90 billion of direct business for the economy each year and is one of our biggest employers, with over 200,000 businesses, directly supporting over 1.3 million jobs. It is an efficient and rapid way of driving economic growth and regeneration, and it does that in all parts of the country.

Our role

Tourism has the capacity to achieve more and grow more, and our goal is to help the industry achieve that. It has a potential for growth which we will encourage, as a central part of Britain’s growth strategy. We will make sure that potential becomes reality.

    Current initiatives

    The Government’s new strategy for tourism was published on 4 March 2011.

    Our aim is to help the tourism industry achieve its potential for growth in three ways:

    • by creating a sustainable new model for destination marketing and management, on the back of the London 2012 Olympics and the series of other major events which the UK is due to host over the next few years
    • by supporting and promoting domestic tourism and therefore boosting domestic visitor expenditure
    • by providing a platform which will help to raise the sector’s productivity and performance, so UK tourism can compete more effectively in an increasingly crowded international market.