TA Weekly Update – 30th January 2025

In this newsletter:

• TA welcomes Reeves’ announcement on airport expansion
• VisitBritain’s Richard Nicholls to speak at Insights Conference
• VisitBritain launch screen tourism campaign with a bang

Statutory Reg system to start publicly testing…in 12 months’ time.

 

TA welcomes Reeves’ announcement on airport expansion

As was well-trailed, the Chancellor announced her support for Heathrow expansion as well as broader airport growth in her speech yesterday. She said that a third runway at Heathrow was ‘badly needed’.

 

The Tourism Alliance has welcomed this announcement, not only in respect of Heathrow, but also Gatwick, Luton, and even the possible re-opening of Doncaster/Sheffield, all of which play an important, but different, role in the visitor economy.

 

We said:

“For tourists – both leisure and business – this is not just about extra runways or increasing capacity. It is also about ensuring the best possible end-to-end travel experience, with less disruption, better welcome, and continuing to improve ground connectivity too.

 

“Tourists will continue to want to visit our country for all it has to offer, but we also must ensure we are competitive against other destinations on price, convenience, welcome, and – crucially – connectivity. Today’s speech by the Chancellor will hopefully move us towards that goal.

 

“However, we also need her to follow through on other areas, such as reversing the decision to increase the fee for an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) for our non-visa nationals by 60%, taking steps to reduce our uncompetitive visa costs, and supporting tourism businesses struggling as a result of her recent budget announcements.”

Read our full statement

 

VisitBritain’s Richard Nicholls to speak at Insights Conference

We are pleased to announce that Richard Nicholls, Head of Research and Forecasting at VisitBritain, will be taking part in our upcoming Tourism Insights Conference on 18th March 2025.

Alongside Richard, we’ve also announced that David Edwards from ETOA and Thierry Ngutegure from SALT.agency will be presenting. This will be a really insightful set of sessions, and there are more still to come.

Make sure to reserve your space. Remember, all delegates are welcome to join us at the English Tourism Week Parliamentary Reception on the House of Commons Terrace following the conference.

Details, tickets, sponsorship opportunities, and much more at https://www.tickettailor.com/events/thetourismalliance/1526746

Find out more here

 

VisitBritain launch screen tourism campaign with a bang

VisitBritain this week launched their long-planned screen tourism campaign, “Starring GREAT Britain” with an impressive video.

 

The campaign comes as VisitBritain’s screen tourism research shows that more than 9-out-of-10 potential visitors to the UK would be keen to visit film and TV locations during a trip.

 

Patricia Yates, said:

“Britain’s destinations are the real star of the show as we harness the powerful draw of screen tourism to attract international visitors and drive their spending across our nations and regions, boosting local economies. Using film and TV as the hook we’re telling the story of Britain today, showcasing our dynamic and diverse destinations and putting our welcome centre-stage.”

VB’s full press pack can be accessed here

 

Statutory Reg system to start publicly testing…in 12 months’ time.

Tourism Minister, Chris Bryant, responding to a Written Parliamentary Question, has revealed some information regarding timing for the next stage of statutory registration of short-term lets.

“Following public consultation in 2023, Parliament legislated for a registration scheme for short-term lets in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023. The Government is committed to delivering this scheme as soon as possible to support our thriving visitor economy while protecting local communities through improved oversight of the short-term lets sector. The Government has now concluded the initial development state of the registration scheme and expects to begin publicly testing the scheme in 12 months time.”

We would like more information about what public testing of the scheme means, who will be invited to test the system, what the testing would seek to check, how the testing will be evaluated, and what the timescales for full roll-out will be. We will follow up with DCMS.