Caravan parks to benefit from £1 million tourism cash boost

SITES and attractions including caravan parks across England will benefit from a £1 million funding package aimed at supporting rural tourism.

UK tourism agency VisitBritain has received £750,000 from the government and will supplement it with £250,000 from its existing budgets.

It will fund a marketing campaign promoting rural destinations and visitor attractions to help them recover from the effects of the recent floods and foot-and-mouth disease.

The cash boost has come from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and was announced by culture secretary James Purnell.

Mr Purnell said: “Britain is open for business. Right across the UK there are fantastic cultural and tourist attractions putting on high quality events.

“This £1,000,000 cash injection will help promote England’s many great destinations. I want to remind people across the country of the wealth of world class cultural and leisure opportunities on our doorsteps. “

Rural tourism is estimated to be worth about £14 billion each year and in 2006 attracted a record 33 million overseas visitors.

VisitBritain chief executive Tom Wright added: “Government commitment to additional marketing funds comes at an opportune time for England and particularly rural destinations. It enables us to implement high-profile activities on a larger scale and remind potential visitors of the appeals of a rural escape and that our tourism businesses remain open for business.”

The Liberal Democrats said the funds were not enough for such a beleaguered tourism industry.

The party’s culture spokesman Don Foster said: “For the government to announce such a small increase in funding, having made substantial real term cuts to VisitBritain's budget, amounts to little more than an insult to the tourism industry.”

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