The Government’s announcement comes as VisitEngland completes a hugely successful first phase of the £40 million Discover England Fund.
VisitBritain/VisitEngland Chief Executive Sally Balcombe has welcomed the Government's announcement about the Tourism Action Plan: "We strongly support the launch of the Tourism Action Plan which outlines the Government’s plans to ensure the continued success of the tourism industry which last year generated £22.1 billion in spending from inbound tourism to Britain and £19.6 billion from domestic overnight tourism spend in England, both record results.
The Government’s announcement comes as VisitEngland completes a hugely successful first phase of the £40 million Discover England Fund. The Fund attracted an exceptional number of high quality bids, far outweighing the allocated funding available for year one. We are pleased to have chosen some excellent winners, including the South West Coastal Path and Visit Kent and Cheshire’s ‘Gardens and Gourmets’, and we will now be working closely with them to build world-class ‘bookable’ tourism products that showcase the best of England to international and domestic visitors. We look forward to continuing the success of the Fund with larger scale bids worth more than £1 million in years two and three.
Tourism is a fiercely competitive global industry and the Tourism Action Plan demonstrates the Government’s commitment to improving our competitive tourism offer which includes making it easier for visitors to explore Britain using our extensive transport network. We are thrilled to be running a competition with the Rail Delivery Group to give five pairs of winners the chance to test out some of our best rail itineraries and show just how easy it is to explore all the incredible experiences and attractions on offer across Britain.
We continue to position Britain as a must-go now holiday destination through our domestic and global #OMGB ‘Home of Amazing Moments’ campaigns to promote the amazing experiences that can only be had here, converting aspirations to visit into bookings and ensuring that the economic benefits of tourism are spread across all our nations and regions."
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