Fears over funding for tourism agency in Yorkshire

Selby and Ainsty MP Nigel Adams will lead calls during a Westminster debate for the Government not to pull the plug on funding for tourism agency Welcome to Yorkshire next year.

Funding – which has helped the industry blossom in recent years –is due to be halted in April, but Mr Adams will urge Ministers to agree to match investment from private businesses and individuals.

He will warn that failing to spend any money promoting Yorkshire will leave a major imbalance, with the Scottish government continuing to spend tens of millions of pounds a year on attracting visitors north of the border.

Today’s debate comes as Welcome to Yorkshire is shortlisted for the accolade of the World’s Leading Tourist Board for a second successive year in the World Travel Awards – the only English agency to be nominated.

This year the agency received £10m through regional development agency Yorkshire Forward, which is being abolished, and the Government instead plans to give a small amount of money to Visit England to promote the whole country. However, Visit Scotland will receive tens of millions of pounds from the Scottish government to woo visitors there.

Mr Adams said: “The days of going cap in hand and of bodies being able to operate without raising their own funds have long gone, and rightly so. But there needs to be some balance. When you make the comparison with Scotland, with a similar population, there’s a huge imbalance.”

The issue has been highlighted in the Yorkshire Post’s Give Us a Fair Deal campaign, which is urging Ministers not to allow the region to be left lagging behind.