It was great to take a trip to Broadway Tower ahead of English Tourism Week - which is this week!
Coordinated by VisitEngland and taking place from 22 to 31 May, English Tourism Week is an annual celebration of the tourism industry, highlighting its economic importance to local economies and promoting the innovation, quality and range of products and services on offer to encourage more domestic breaks. Over the past year, I've visited numerous tourism businesses in Worcestershire and have had discussions about the challenges and opportunities of reopening and how they have coped with the disruption caused by the pandemic.
This has been an immensely tough time for the tourism industry, and so I’m delighted to support English Tourism Week – a well-needed and deserved opportunity to get out and experience what our local area has to offer in terms of attractions, activities, trips away and a lot of the things we’ve had to do without this past year. I’ve been fortunate enough to visit many tourism businesses in these past few weeks as they open up, and I look forward to visiting more across the constituency and the country for English Tourism Week - and in the coming weeks and months. I certainly encourage locals to enjoy the amazing offerings on our doorstep as we head towards a Great British summer.
This year, English Tourism Week is more important than ever, marking the opening up of an industry which sustains nearly 4 million jobs in the UK. Now, as we have reached the next stage of easing restrictions, tourist attractions are able to reopen, hotels, hostels, restaurants, cafes and pubs are allowing people through their doors once again. The tourism agency’s latest forecasts show that domestic tourism spending is estimated this year of £51.4 billion, up 51% on 2020, but still only a little more than half of the £91.6 billion in 2019. Last year alone saw about two-thirds of the value wiped off the domestic tourism industry, a £58 billion loss to the economy.
VisitEngland Director Andrew Stokes says:
Our annual event to celebrate and champion English tourism has never been more important, providing a timely opportunity to show the outstanding offer here on our doorstep as we head in to the critical summer season and to support local businesses and visitor attractions, who have lost months of vital trading, as they reopen and rebuild. Millions of jobs and local economies rely on tourism and businesses and destinations have been working flat-out, innovating and adapting to safely welcome visitors back and making sure they have a great experience. They will be very pleased to see you.
For more information about English Tourism Week please see: https://www.visitbritain.org/english-tourism-week
