£20m aid for ‘holiday at home’ drive

A MAJOR drive to encourage Britons to holiday at home is to be launched after the Government pledged £20m from its Regional Growth Fund.

Tourism bosses in York and the Peak District have signed up to be part of the campaign to encourage “staycations”, which would provide a major boost to the region’s tourism industry.

Experts claim the three-year “Growing Tourism Locally” drive, which will also draw in private investment, could lead to nearly 10,000 jobs being created across the country.

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The campaign will particularly aim to make the most of events such as the Olympics and Diamond Jubilee.

James Berresford, VisitEngland’s chief executive, said: “With this additional money we can mount a serious campaign to stimulate domestic tourism that has the potential to create the equivalent of 9,500 full time jobs in areas across the country suffering economic challenges.”

Gillian Cruddas, chief executive of Visit York, one of the organisations which will take part in the campaign, said: “This means that as one of Britain’s top visitor destinations, York, will next year be part of an England-wide campaign and Visit York will benefit from a closer partnership with Visit England.

“The timing of this announcement could not have come at a better time for us.

“In 2012 we have more news to shout about than ever before.”