The British government and the travel industry are forming a partnership with key public and private sector bodies to unite behind a long-term ambition for growth, with the goal of seeing overseas visitors increase to 40 million by 2020, according to BreakingTravelNews.com.
The partnership was announced by Culture Secretary Maria Miller and will see travelers spending approximately $47.25 billion and supporting 200,000 new jobs across the country.
Tourism is already a major industry in Britain, employing 2.6 million people a year. The travel industry provides one in 12 jobs in the U.K. In the past two years, a third of the new jobs in the country were in the tourism sector.
The travel industry provides jobs in all skill levels, offering employment opportunities for young people especially, with 40 percent of those employed in the industry under 40 years of age.
Britain is already competitive in the tourism industry internationally. Last year, 31 million international visitors were welcomed, spending approximately $27.9 billion, which was a record amount.
The new partnership aims to increase the growth of international visitors by 29 percent by 2020. There are four objectives being address to achieve the intended growth, including building on Britain's improved international image, increasing engagement with the travel trade, broadening the product range on offer for inbound tourists and making it easier to get to Britain.
The campaign will target places they consider growth markets, including Brazil, China, India and the Gulf region, as well as established markets such as the U.S., France and Germany.
VisitBritain, the marketing program, has directly contributed approximately $1.13 billion to the U.K. tourism industry, securing an additional $36 million in matched funding from the private sector, doubling the government investment.
"Tourism is central to the government's economic growth strategy," Miller said. "It's worth 115 billion pounds to our economy a year and we need to ensure we retain a competitive edge and can compete with other destinations around the world.
"With the Great campaign, we are selling the best of Britain, building on strengths to boost tourism income right across the country," she added.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
