A Message from Marc Etches - August 2010

Welcome to our August newsletter,

We were delighted to hear the Prime Minister’s speech recently declaring the Government’s new commitment to the tourism industry.

It is clear to see that David Cameron values tourism as a fundamental contributor towards rebuilding our economy; Visit Lincolnshire shares and supports his vision to use the opportunities of the next decade and the 2012 Games as a way of increasing the UK’s and Lincolnshire’s international appeal for travel and tourism.

At VL we continue to champion the visitor economy at a local level, and hearing David Cameron describe tourism as“first class priority at the front and centre of Britain’s economic strategy” offers growing support for the industry at a national level.

The most significant part of David Cameron’s speech outlines the Government’s view that tourism should be a local industry. Their aspiration is to create new Local Enterprise Partnerships, allowing local people and entrepreneurs more responsibility and control over how tourism is developed in each local area.

In the future a new set of incentives will be proposed for local authorities – including options for business rate incentives allowing local authorities to reinvest the benefits of growth back into their local communities. Visit Lincolnshire will ensure it is central within these discussions to represent the best interests of all concerned in the local visitor economy.

We wish you a busy and successful summer,

Marc Etches
Interim Chief Executive, Visit Lincolnshire

Prime Ministers Speech on Tourism – August 2010

The Prime Minister has delivered a speech (12th August) declaring the Government’s new commitment to tourism, in the light of the opportunities and challenges facing the UK as we progress towards 2012.

He outlined how tourism is now a first class priority at the front and centre of our economic strategy, as an export earner with international visitors and with a strong domestic market. He also stressed how fundamental the industry will be to the rebuilding and rebalancing of our economy.

He recognised that the 2012 Games and the coming decade of great international sporting events across Britain, with all that Britain has to offer, is an unprecedented opportunity. But, to ensure that this opportunity is not missed, as an industry there is still much that needs to be done to improve perceptions of Britain at home and overseas.

Over the coming months the Government will be working on ‘the strongest possible tourism strategy’ looking at:
- What the Government does nationally
- The role of local government and the support of the local area
- How we stimulate the private sector in tourism
- How we make policy in other areas that will impact the tourism industry

At a national level, the dedicated Minister for Tourism and Heritage, John Penrose will lead a new relationship with the tourism industry, showing the Government gets tourism and understands the huge potential of the industry.

In spite of the current tough times meaning tough decisions, he is keen to ensure that these decisions will serve us in the long-term.

However, the Government views tourism as a local industry and their aspiration is for new Local Enterprise Partnerships to allow local people and entrepreneurs more responsibility and control over how tourism is developed in each local area.

A new set of incentives will be proposed for local authorities – including options for business rate incentives allowing local authorities to reinvest the benefits of growth back into their local communities.

The right local incentives should also help to stimulate the private sector. In addition to the reduction in red tape and excessive business taxes planned, the Prime Minister sees tourism bids as potentially key beneficiaries of the new £1 billion regional growth fund.

He will also look across Government at the policies that impact tourism in a big way – visas, airport security, infrastructure – not as isolated issues, but from the perspective of both the domestic and international tourism industry.

Finally, he committed John Penrose to work with the industry, bringing together all your best ideas, to develop a tourism strategy by the end of the year, with the goal of setting Britain on a path to break into the world’s top five tourist destinations.

Read the full speech.

Extracted from VisitBritain’s news bulletin.

Funding opportunities - rural broadband

A new funding opportunity to help businesses get better rural broadband service has been launched.

Emda is launching the Rural Broadband Fund, funded through the Rural Development Programme for England. This fund seeks to support the government’s objective that Britain should have the best superfast broadband network in Europe.

The funding can contribute towards developing innovative approaches that address existing gaps in rural broadband coverage.

These approaches can include:

Community broadband projects
- Projects that seek to upgrade existing infrastructure to exceed the proposed Universal Service Commitment speed of 2Mbit/s
- Projects that enable early deployment of next generation compatible solutions

The funding is aimed at businesses that can access match funding of 15K minimum.

For more information please visit emda’s website.