New plan to drive recovery of tourism sector
A new rail pass and vouchers for popular attractions are in the center of a plan to return domestic tourism to pre-pandemic levels by 2022 and international tourism by 2023.
A £10 million voucher scheme is going to be launched through the National Lottery this autumn to inspire trips past the peak summer months, with players having the opportunity to claim vouchers to redeem at tourist attractions over the UK between September 2021 and March 2022.
This is in addition to a rail pass for ‘staycationers’, set to be launched later this year, helping to make it easier and more sustainable for domestic tourists to obtain round the country. The new pass will build on the prosperity of the BritRail pass, which is sold through VisitBritain and currently gives international visitors flexible travel across the country, as well as providing discounted entry to tourism attractions.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport has also announced the government will explore how tourism data collected at the border can support the sector and we'll look to create a tourism data hub to give the sector access to robust, accessible and timely data. The hub could track consumer trends in travel, such as the development in ‘active tourism’, such as watersports and hiking, and booking of sustainable tourism experiences. The data gathered will help inform policy and marketing whilst working to improve visitor experience.
The government will even launch an appointment around the introduction of a Tourist Accommodation Registration Scheme in England. This will think about the together with your rise of short term rentals in attracting tourists to destinations across the nation and adding to the English tourism economy, along with its impact on local economies and communities.
Tourism Minister Nigel Huddleston said: “Our brilliant tourism sector is one of our country’s greatest assets, making a huge contribution to the economy and delivering jobs across all communities. For this reason we’ve provided it with £25 billion in support so far throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. The Tourism Recovery Plan's our blueprint based on how the sector can take shape back better in the pandemic, even faster than forecasts predict. It’s been a challenging year for that tourism sector, specifically for our cities, but I know they stand prepared to welcome visitors back and I encourage everyone to rediscover the UK’s fantastic tourism offer.”
