Several tourism bodies, including Northern Ireland Tourism Alliance and UKinbound, have written to the Prime Minister to highlight that the survival of more than 200,000 city tourism and hospitality businesses is at risk if international travel does not resume in time for summer.
According to VisitBritain data, inbound tour operators bring in over 50% of all international visitors to the UK and arrange for them to visit cities across the country.
It says an international visitor to the UK will spend an average of £696 during their trip, compared to just £239 for a domestic tourist.
Joss Croft, CEO, UKinbound said: “As we progress from Step 2 to Step 3 in the reopening roadmap it is critical that cities are not left behind as the country moves forward with recovery. We can’t rely on domestic tourism to make up for the short fall and spend of international visitors, especially in our cities.”
Alongside stressing the need to safely welcome back international visitors to the UK, the letter detailed three key requests to the government.
It wants a cost-effective testing system, including the removal of VAT, funding for VisitBritain to start international marketing of the UK abroad as soon as possible, and easy access to the UK for inbound visitors from green countries.
