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Tourism chiefs have called for a Whitehall department to be stripped of responsibility for their industry. The bosses of the country's biggest hotel and leisure firms have called for tourism to be moved from the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) to Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR). Chief executives of Hoseasons, Butlins, Travelodge and the British Association of Leisure Parks, Piers and Attractions called on prime minister, Gordon Brown, to make the move to enable more Whitehall attention for their industry. They pointed out that tourism generated £100bn for the UK economy and employed more than 2m people. The group also argued that the DCMS was too heavily focused on its media and culture remits. With tourism split between the department, local authorities, regional development agencies (RDAs) and tourist boards, there was ‘no over-aching focus'. As a result, there was competition between bodies for tourists, and confusing messages. Placing tourism with the business department would give the industry the same status as manufacturing – and banking. Richard Carrick, chief executive for Hoseasons, said: ‘There has never been a better opportunity or need in recent history, to get behind UK tourism. The current economic climate and adverse exchange rates are likely to mean that 2009 is a boom year for incoming and intra-UK tourism. ‘If we don't get a handle on the way tourism is dealt with by the Government quickly, this massive opportunity will be spurned, in the same way that very large sums of money invested in the myriad of tourism agencies across the UK for many years has been squandered.' Councils are also beginning to raise concern that the department has a vast policy agenda which also includes delivering the 2012 Olympic agenda. The RDAs are stepping up work to fight the recession and secure their future from political opponents. Grounding the tourism agenda into a business base could help strengthen their defence. A senior local government leader told The MJ: ‘There would be a lot of logic to this. Relying on the banking and service sector has brought the country to where we are today. ‘Tourism is now more vital to local economies than ever. And this would certainly bring badly-needed clarity.'

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Tourist chiefs urge BERR to take on job of pushing industry

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