UKinbound has condemned the Government’s latest comments that the industry should be responsible for marketing the UK in the run up to the 2012 Olympic Games.

Criticism has been mounting again this week against the funding cuts to VisitBritain, by the Department of Culture Media and Sport (DCMS). The funding decrease of around one fifth over three years, was announced last October just weeks after the publication of a Government funded report, which stated that staging the 2012 Games could generate a massive net increase in tourism revenue of £2.1 billion, but only if sufficient resources were allocated and a suitable structure was put in place.

The cuts have been questioned by industry and were also recently criticised by the Culture Media and Sport Select Committee’s report into tourism. Without sufficient funding, the Committee said there is a danger of missing an opportunity to showcase London and the UK on the world’s stage during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

A DCMS spokesperson this week said in response to the debate over VisitBritain’s funding cuts: “By securing the 2012 Games for Britain we have provided a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our tourism industry. It is now up to the industry to make the most of the Games.”

Stephen Dowd chief executive of UKinbound responded: “DCMS is being characteristically disingenuous in claiming they were responsible for securing the 2012 Olympic Games for London but arguing that tourism businesses should be responsible for destination marketing shows just how little the department responsible for tourism really understands the industry.

“The tourism industry, the majority of which is made up of small businesses, simply does not have the capacity or the expertise for the international marketing of the UK as a tourism destination. This should be centrally coordinated and undertaken by the national tourist board, which is the only viable and indeed best-practice model that is used by the world’s top tourism destinations, and the UK should be no different.

“Is it too much to expect that in return for the £2.9Bn a year in taxes levied on international visitors and inbound tourism businesses by Government we should, at the very least, have a properly funded national tourist board that can deliver a consistent message to our overseas markets and grasp, for the UK economy, opportunities such as the 2012 Games.

“The Government must really understand that infrastructure will not boost tourism on its own. If the world is unaware of the fantastic facilities here in the UK then they simply will not come and visit.”