Irish tourism held up as a shining
example to follow
THE British Government has been urged to reorganise the bodies promoting
England overseas and back them with more cash after it was revealed that
the Irish Government has allocated £528million over the next seven
years to Tourism Ireland.
The joint north-south body has earmarked £221million for international
marketing, £209million for product development and infrastructure
and £98million for training and human resources.
A spokeswoman for Tourism Ireland said: “We’ve been able to
get our act together by having a very strong programme of support from
government.”
This prompted a call from Bob Cotton, chief executive of the British Hospitality
Association, for the British Government to address the confusion caused
by Scottish and Welsh devolution and the introduction of nine English
Regional Development agencies (RDAs).
“If all the money from the RDAs is put together, it compares quite
favourably to the Irish investment but it’s painful to see public
money going into nine different regions to be used competitively against
each other rather than working together,” he said.
“We need a more co ordinated approach in England, as this is not
the wisest way to spend public money.”
Kurt Janson, policy director for the Tourism Alliance, demanded more money
for promoting tourism pointing out that per head of population Ireland
invests 13 times the level being spent by the British Government.
The call was backed by Bernard Donoghue, head of governmental affairs
at VisitBritain, who said the £35million budget to promote Britain
overseas had declined in real terms by 18 per cent since it was frozen
in 1997.
“The Irish Exchequer understands the importance of tourism for
the Irish economy and is prepared to invest for long-term success,”
Mr Donoghue said.
“We need greater government investment in the promotion of Britain
to secure the tourism legacy of the 2012 Olympics.”
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