Call for dedicated minister as tourism costs rise

The head of a regional tourism industry body is calling for a dedicated minister to help the sector to grow and raise its profile within government.

Pete Waters, executive director of Visit East of England, says tourism is worth £12bn pounds a year to the local economy and could grow very quickly with the right encouragement.

However, he warned that many businesses were worried about rising costs and bills when the increase in National Insurance (NI) contributions takes effect next month.

The government said it was committed to driving growth within the sector.

At the moment the tourism portfolio is overseen by Sir Chris Bryant, the Minister of State at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

But he is also responsible for arts and libraries, museums, heritage and the National Archives leaving some in the tourism industry to wonder how much influence he has when other ministries like the Department for Transport, Local Government department and the Home Office are also making decisions which affect the sector.

"Having a dedicated tourism minister would be crucially important to the industry because it is one of the largest in the country, one of the biggest employers and one of the biggest contributors to the Treasury," Mr Waters told the BBC's Politics East programme.

"We can grow this sector quite quickly given the right circumstances and given the right direction and help from the government," he said.

He was supported by Blake Stephenson, the Conservative MP for Mid Bedfordshire, who will hold a special debate in Parliament on tourism next week.

"Chris Bryant is a great guy, but he's got a lot of big portfolios to look after," he said.

"The government has high expectations in terms of the number of visitors it wants to drive to the country and I think a dedicated portfolio might be helpful."

There have been calls over the years for successive governments to create a dedicated tourism minister.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport would not comment on these latest calls but pointed out that Sir Chris had recently set up a new Visitor Economy Advisory Council to boost collaboration within the industry and to help it grow.

Some in the industry believe a dedicated minister may have cushioned tourism from some of the tax rises announced in the budget.

Woburn Safari Park in Bedfordshire says it will increase admission prices next month because its wage bill has increased by £325,000, a third of that due to the rise in employer NI contributions. It says the increase in the minimum wage will also have an impact.

"In the last seven years we've seen a 50% increase in staff costs and energy bills are double what they were in 2020-21," said managing director Drew Mullin.

"We've got no positives at the moment. We are also uncertain about business rates. We are aware they will change and based on what's happened with National Insurance contributions we expect them to go up."

Mr Waters from Visit East of England described the NI rise as "the perfect example of the law of unintended consequences. Rather than boost the economy, [the Chancellor] has done the opposite".

"We've got tens of thousands of SMEs [small and medium sized enterprises] which could be family-run businesses , husband and wife teams... entrepreneurs all wanting to get on, who are being stifled by this budget," he said.

The government has argued that increasing the tax for employers rather than workers is fair and will fund improvements to public services.

It also said that staff would benefit from the rise in the minimum wage.

BBC Politics East is broadcast at 10:00 on Sundays, and is available on the BBC iPlayer.

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