Just before Christmas, GTE attended the Tourism Policy Conference, organised by the Tourism Alliance, to gain insights into the current state of the UK tourism industry and to hear Sir Chris Bryant the Minister of State at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (quite a title but actually includes Tourism which is not mentioned) outline the new government’s approach to growing the visitor economy.
The conference addressed a wide range of topics, including border control systems, sustainable travel, tourism taxation, and the regulation of growing accommodation sectors like Airbnb. It proved to be an enlightening event, shedding light on the numerous challenges the tourism industry faces in these evolving times.
In the coming months, GTE will share updates and insights from the conference while also gathering data similar to that provided by the Tourism Alliance on general tourism trends.
One message came through clearly across all sectors: government support for the tourism industry in general has been lacking in recent years. Furthermore, whilst Golf Tourism gains some support in Scotland and Northern Ireland in particular, golf is not one of the key pillars of tourism income in England, so golf along with many other tourism sectors struggles for funding. Fortunately, England is home to many globally renowned golf clubs, which help maintain England’s strong profile internationally.
Encouragingly, the Gross Value Added (GVA) by tourism to the UK economy in 2023 was £77.5 billion, accounting for 3.2% of the overall economy. This represents a recovery from the £15.9 billion (0.8% of GVA) recorded during the pandemic in 2021 and shows progress compared to the 2019 figures of £73.6 billion and 3.6%.
GTE remains dedicated to obtaining equivalent golf-related economic data and strengthening its collaboration with the Tourism Alliance to support the broader visitor economy.
