NEWS DESK 

Visit London, the capital’s official visitor organisation, has welcomed the Culture, Media and Sport Committee report into Tourism and urged the government to address its recommendations.
 
Visit London Chief Executive James Bidwell said:
“Tourism is worth £16.6 billion each year to the British capital and supports 250,000 full time jobs. Tourism is also one of the largest industries in Britain and the government needs to take the sector seriously. Cutting tourism funding, which is criticised extensively in the Committee’s report, is short-sighted and places London and the UK at a competitive disadvantage to other destinations.”
 
Visit London also condemned the government’s lack of funding to ensure the legacy of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

“The forecast incremental tourism benefit of the Games is £2.2 billion for London and £2.9 billion for the UK,” said Mr Bidwell.

“With just four years until London 2012, the government has no funding in place to ensure that the tourism sector can leverage this once in a life opportunity for the visitor economy. The post-Games legacy depends on our ability to showcase London and Britain to the world and this cannot be done without appropriate funding. The government seems to have a tourism blind spot on how to maximise the Olympic opportunity.”
 
The Culture, Media and Sport Committee report reaches conclusions and recommendations on the state of the tourism industry in the UK, the funding of tourism, opportunities presented by the London 2012 Games, and challenges facing the tourism industry.