To revive domestic tourism to pre-pandemic levels by 2022 and international tourism by 2023, an all-new rail pass and vouchers to popular tourist attractions are at the heart of the plan.
This autumn, a £10 million voucher scheme will be introduced by the National Lottery to entice travellers to go on trips beyond the peak summer season.
Players will stand to gain vouchers that can be redeemed at tourist attractions within the UK between September and March 2022.
Later this year, a rail pass for “staycationers” will be initiated, which will help ease domestic travel and make it more sustainable to get around the country.
Built on the success of the BritRail pass, the new rail pass will be sold through VisitBritain and at present allows international visitors flexible travel across the nation, apart from providing discounted entry to tourism attractions.
Technology and data will be the new focus. The government will be able to analyze tourism data collected at the border can support the sector and look to create a tourism data hub required to give the sector access to robust, accessible and timely data. This hub could track consumer trends in travel, such as the growth in “active tourism” such as water sports and hiking, and booking of sustainable tourism experiences.
“Our brilliant tourism sector is one of our country’s greatest assets, making a huge contribution to our economy and delivering jobs across all communities,” said tourism minister, Nigel Huddleston.
He added, “The Tourism Recovery Plan is our blueprint for how the sector can build back better from the pandemic, even faster than forecasts predict.
“It’s been a challenging year for the tourism sector, especially for our cities, but I know they stand ready to welcome visitors back and I encourage everyone to rediscover the UK’s fantastic tourism offer.”
Before the pandemic, the UK was set to hit over 100 million domestic overnight trips in 2020.
The UK welcomed 41 million international visitors for business or leisure in 2019 who spent over £28 billion whilst in the UK, putting the nation in the top 5 countries globally for inbound visitor spending. The sector, however, has been massively affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
