Minister urged to back Yorkshire tourism

MPs will urge Tourism Minister John Penrose to back a deal which would see the Government match-funding money raised privately by the region’s tourism agency Welcome to Yorkshire.

Tourism has become a £7 billion-a-year industry in the region with development agency Yorkshire Forward having invested millions of pounds in Welcome to Yorkshire in recent years.

But that money comes to an end in April and while the Scottish government will spend tens of millions of pounds attracting visitors and businesses north of the border, Welcome to Yorkshire will get nothing from Westminster.

MPs fear the region could lose out and hope to convince Mr Penrose to agree to match-fund English tourism organisations which secure more than £1m in private investment to attract visitors.

Nigel Adams, MP for Selby and Ainsty, said: “We have been lobbying on behalf of Welcome to Yorkshire for many months now. We will continue to make the case to John Penrose to ensure it has a strong future and we are hopeful that a sensible funding route for the organisation can be found.”

Ministers insist they want places like Yorkshire, with world-class assets, to become “attack brands” capable of attracting foreign visitors for a holiday in their own right rather than relying on people visiting London to head north.

Julian Smith, MP for Skipton and Ripon, who co-ordinates a series of meetings between Tory Yorkshire MPs and Ministers, said: “There are 25,000 businesses in Yorkshire that rely on tourism and so it is vital that we do all we can at Westminster to make the Government aware of the importance of the sector to the region.”