Government response to the independent review of destination management organisations in England

Question 1

Ministerial foreword

Accepted Answer

Levelling Up is the defining mission of this government and the visitor economy has huge potential to contribute: tourism activity directly contributed 4% of UK GVA in 2019, employs people right across the country, delivering local economic growth and helping to drive productivity — particularly in rural and coastal areas. The visitor economy can also help to develop and promote people’s pride in their local areas, and make them more attractive places to visit, live and work in, and invest.

Destination management organisations, or DMOs, are crucial components of the visitor economy. No other type of organisation — whether in the private or public sector — is as well placed to bind together the constituent parts that make a place an attractive and enjoyable place to visit, whether that be for business or leisure.

England’s DMOs have an important role to play both in the recovery of the sector from COVID-19 and achieving the government’s Levelling Up objectives. As we deliver the build back better agenda set out in the Tourism Recovery Plan, their role is not only to market and promote England’s unique and varied visitor offer, but also to work with local businesses as they recover, to attract new investment, and to help England deliver a more sustainable, data-driven, resilient and accessible industry.

DMOs can also contribute significantly to delivery of the government’s Levelling Up missions on Living Standards and Pride in Place. The ambition is that by 2030, pay, employment, productivity and people’s satisfaction with their town centre and engagement in local culture and community, will have risen in every area of the UK, with each containing a globally competitive city, and the gap between the top performing and other areas closing.

However, for this to happen, DMOs need to be at their best. Transforming the DMO landscape at a local level will allow DMOs all over England to harness their potential to grow not only domestic visitor spend, but international inbound spend too, reducing the London-centric nature of the UK’s visitor economy. As well as building stronger relationships with local and central government, and promoting their unique cultural, heritage, natural and visitor offer.

For DMOs to reach their full potential, however, we need to address long-running concerns about the structure, funding models and fragmentation of England’s DMO landscape. We also need to address the impact that the pandemic has had, particularly on those DMOs highly reliant on commercial income. This is why I instructed VisitEngland early on in the pandemic to divert some of its funding to help our DMOs weather the COVID storm. It is also why in March 2021, I asked Nick de Bois (Chair of VisitEngland’s Advisory Board) to conduct a detailed review of England’s DMO landscape so he could delve deep into the issues facing our DMOs and make recommendations.

Nick did an excellent job. He submitted his report last summer, and we published it in September. His report was clear, thorough and persuasive, and laid down the gauntlet for the government. This document sets out the government’s response and I am pleased to say that we will be accepting the majority of de Bois’ recommendations.

A new accreditation system will be introduced over the 2022-23 financial year, with VisitEngland receiving new funding to develop and administer the scheme. By creating a new national portfolio of accredited, high-performing Local Visitor Economy Partnerships we will reduce fragmentation and bring coherence to the DMO landscape, helping actors across the private and public sector. We are proposing to change the name of DMOs to Local Visitor Economy Partnerships (LVEPs) to capture the wider strategic focus on the visitor economy and the breadth of activity and relationships they will establish to support the local visitor economy.

The government also commits to a pilot of de Bois’ recommendation of a tiering model including multi-year core funding in a region of England. That will give one top tier LVEP or collection of LVEPs (known as a Destination Development Partnership), the space and firm foundation to engage in a wide range of destination management type activities as well as prompt increased private sector investment. This response sets out the criteria upon which the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and VisitEngland will decide where the pilot is run.

Whilst I realise it will be disappointing that we aren’t rolling out the de Bois funding proposals nationwide at this point, we also need to be as confident as we can be that public sector investment will be value for money. De Bois highlights that there are gaps in information on existing DMO performance and the evidence that has been collected suggests the DMO structures in some parts of England are not currently mature enough to take on significant public funds. Furthermore, we need more robust evidence that state funding of Destination Development Partnerships drives up private sector investment and growth.

My hope is that our pilot will serve as a proof of concept which, when combined with the rollout of the accreditation system, will give us the information we need to proceed with confidence at a national level.

The tourism sector has long been one of England’s most important and successful industries, in no small part because of the hard work and dedication of those supporting it at a local level. The government’s response to the de Bois review builds on this track record and I look forward to working with Nick, in his capacity as Chair of VisitEngland’s Advisory Board, as well as the wider sector, in order to deliver on his recommendations.

Nigel Huddleston MP
Minister for Sport, Tourism, Heritage and Civil Society

Question 2

Background

Accepted Answer

The independent de Bois review of destination management organisations in England (‘the DMO Review’) was commissioned in March 2021 by the then Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Rt Hon. Oliver Dowden CBE MP, and the current Minister for Sport, Tourism, Heritage and Civil Society, Nigel Huddleston MP. The review is an important component of the UK Government’s post-COVID Tourism Recovery Plan, with the review Terms of Reference recognising the significant impact of the pandemic on DMOs and the important role they are playing, and will continue to play, in the sector’s recovery.

De Bois was tasked with surveying the DMO landscape in England, evaluating its current funding, structure and performance, with a view to making recommendations on whether there may be a more efficient and effective model for supporting English tourism at a local and regional level and delivering the government’s tourism policy agenda. This agenda is set out in detail in the Tourism Recovery Plan but can be summarised as first securing a swift recovery to pre-pandemic tourism volumes and visitor expenditure, before building back better towards a more innovative, sustainable and inclusive visitor economy, with the benefits of tourism spread across every nation and region of the UK.

As Tourism is a devolved responsibility within the UK, de Bois was asked to look at DMOs in England only, but he also looked closely at the approaches taken in both the devolved administrations as well as overseas.

The review concluded in August 2021 and de Bois’ report was published in September. The government is extremely grateful for the speed with which de Bois undertook the review, his thorough approach and the extent to which he was able to engage with representatives and businesses from across the visitor economy and all parts of England.

The review makes 12 recommendations in total, six of which are directed at the government, four at DMOs themselves and one each for local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) and local authorities. This document sets out the government’s response to the recommendations.

Question 3

Government response

Accepted Answer

Recommendations for government

Recommendation 1: The government should bring coherence to England’s DMO landscape via a tiering approach, using an accreditation process to create a national portfolio of high performing destination management organisations that meet certain criteria. I would also suggest a move away from the confusing ‘DMO’ term and call these nationally accredited Tourist Boards.

The government agrees with this recommendation.

The government agrees with de Bois’ assessment that the current DMO landscape in England is fragmented and complex. The government also agrees with his assessment of the negative consequences for England’s visitor economy, in particular making it less likely that key players across the private and public sectors will engage with their local DMO, diluting private sector investment and making it harder for DMOs to get a ‘seat at the table’ when it comes to important decisions with an impact on the tourism sector.

To address this, the government will introduce a new structured system for England’s DMOs, whereby DMOs that successfully meet clear requirements will become part of a ‘national portfolio’.

The criteria for becoming part of the national portfolio will be designed and assessed by VisitEngland, in cooperation with DCMS, with a view to inviting applications in late summer. DCMS will set the high-level criteria, VisitEngland will design the details and the Minister for Sport, Tourism, Heritage and Civil Society will have final approval.

The criteria are likely to closely align with those suggested in the de Bois review. In particular, the government considers the following to be important:

the system will be focused on creating a national portfolio of DMOs able to support the visitor economy at a strategic level, not on categorising every DMO, regardless of size
DMOs within the national portfolio will need to cover a large enough geographic area to be of strategic importance, such as a county, city or region (DMOs for specific towns or districts would be unlikely to qualify)
they will need to be able to lead from the perspective of the visitor — the area covered by the DMO will also need to make sense from the perspective of the visitor
they will need to be engaged in destination ‘management’, not just marketing, and should be joined up with other important local and regional actors such as key attractions and local government.
they will need to demonstrate an ability to raise funding from the private sector
if they receive public funding, or have done so in the past, they will need to demonstrate that they can administer it with probity
although there will need to be some flexibility, geographical overlap will be strongly discouraged (it is highly unlikely that two DMOs covering similar areas will be accredited)
DMOs will need to demonstrate a commitment to and plan for expanding their commercial income streams
there will need to be a mechanism for removing national portfolio status if the DMO changes or fails to perform effectively

VisitEngland will receive additional funding to develop and administer the scheme, on top of its annual baseline allocation. The funding will include provision to recruit regional resources to support and account manage the national portfolio.

The new structure will have a number of benefits both for the visitor economy as a whole and existing DMOs themselves. It will reduce fragmentation and complexity, thereby making it clearer to public and private actors who to engage with in order to support the regional visitor economy - as well as to prospective visitors looking for information about English destinations. As de Bois notes, there is a need to answer the question posed frequently by businesses in the review of ‘who do I speak to?’. The new structure will allow the national government and VisitEngland to focus resources on supporting those DMOs able to make the biggest difference. Nationally accredited bodies will be able to use their official status to play a greater role in decision making and when bidding for government funding.

The government also agrees with de Bois’ assessment that the term ‘destination management organisation’ is confusing, imprecise and inaccessible to those outside the tourism sector.

Rather than changing their name to “Tourist Boards” which has its own definition in legislation in the 1969 Development of Tourism Act, we propose that these are called “Local Visitor Economy Partnerships” (LVEPs), to capture the wider strategic focus on the visitor economy and the breadth of activity and relationships they will establish to support the local visitor economy.

Recommendation 2a: The national portfolio should then be split into two tiers - a top tier of accredited LVEPs acting as ‘Destination Development Partnerships’ or as leaders of them (these could be described as ‘hubs’), and a second tier of accredited LVEPs acting as members of these Partnerships (‘spokes’). Destination Development Partnership status could be awarded to either an individual accredited LVEP covering a large enough geography (e.g. a city region) or to a coalition of willing accredited LVEPs within an area that come together under a lead Board.

Recommendation 2b: The government should then provide core funding to each Destination Development Partnership. The funding should be focused on activities that ensure their destination remains sustainable, competitive and responsive to high level strategic challenges identified by the government such as those around sustainability, skills, inclusive tourism and levelling up. The Destination Development Partnership would be expected to pass down a degree of funding to accredited LVEPs amongst its coalition and work collaboratively with them to deliver a shared vision.

The government partially agrees with this recommendation.

The government recognises that DMOs have been placed in a difficult funding situation as a result of the pandemic and that reliance on commercial membership fees can skew priorities towards marketing at the expense of management. The government will pilot de Bois’ proposed tiering model and the recommendation of multi-year core funding in a region of England, in order to give that Destination Development Partnership the space and firm foundation to engage in a wide range of destination management type activities as well as prompt increased private sector investment.

There are several reasons why the government has decided to pilot the approach. Firstly, the current complex and fragmented nature of the DMO landscape means not all parts of the country would be ready to take on public funding if it were made available. Time is needed to address this. Secondly, the de Bois review notes that ‘robust quantifiable evidence on DMO impact is lacking’. This makes it hard to be confident that the provision of taxpayer funding will yield a strong return on investment. A pilot will allow the government to collect evidence to understand how effective the proposed model can be and to support any funding considerations. A targeted pilot of this kind, based on the criteria below, will also support wider government priorities including Levelling Up, by ensuring that we support those areas with most potential to develop their visitor economies, and realise the potential to align with the far-reaching devolution commitments set out in the Levelling Up White Paper. Subject to a successful pilot, the government’s ambition is to roll out this approach nationally, however this is dependent on future funding.

The government will choose a region based on the following criteria:

DMOs in the region will have accredited national portfolio status
the region has a DMO landscape that lacks structures and has gaps in coverage
the region geographically offers coastal, urban and natural environments
the region is able to demonstrate a growing business and events offer
the region is able to demonstrate strong potential to support Levelling Up, through alignment with existing or planned Devolution Deals
the region is able to demonstrate close working across DMOs, local authorities and the private sector
the region is able to demonstrate evidence of visitor economy growth potential, this includes opportunities for improvement in tourism products such as attractions and transport links
the region is able to demonstrate product development opportunities
the region is able to demonstrate potential to grow visitor numbers and spend

During the pilot phase, VisitEngland will continue to support the DMO network, which it has done throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Examples of this support include:

the £1.3m Destination Management Resilience Scheme, which supported 56 DMOs in the initial stages of the pandemic to continue to provide vital business support and advice to tourism businesses
several rounds of the DMO Financial Emergency Assistance Fund, which supported some of the most financially vulnerable DMOs during periods of tight COVID restrictions in 2020 and 2021
two rounds of marketing funding to support DMO-led marketing activity aligned to the VisitEngland and VisitBritain Escape the Everyday recovery campaign (around £1m was provided in 2021, with a further £1m available for activity between mid-March and end-June in 2022
facilitating collaboration between DMOs and providing advice and resources through a range of in-person and virtual engagements

Recommendation 3: DMOs that do not meet the national accreditation criteria should be automatically considered as part of a ‘third tier’. These are likely to be small, localised Destination Marketing Organisations and the government should minimise its engagement with them.

The government agrees with this recommendation.

The government agrees with the argument of the de Bois review that neither DCMS or VisitEngland can have a one-to-one relationship with every DMO, and should instead focus engagement on those undertaking strategic management as well as marketing activities. As de Bois recognises, best practice internationally is for national governments to engage with strategically important DMOs, with more limited engagement with smaller and hyper-local organisations. Going forward, DCMS, VisitEngland and other government departments and agencies should focus their engagement primarily with accredited LVEPs that are part of the national portfolio.

Recommendation 4: As it is England’s National Tourist Board, with the statutory responsibility for growing tourism at an England level, the government should charge VisitEngland with responsibility for creating, maintaining and supporting this new tiered structure. It should receive sufficient funding and resources to do this.

The government agrees with this recommendation.

As set out above, VisitEngland will have responsibility for designing and administering the system for classifying DMOs as part of the national portfolio. However, the final decision on admission or removal from the portfolio will sit with the Tourism Minister, following the advice of the VisitEngland Advisory Board. VisitEngland will also be responsible for administering and evaluating the funding model pilot in the chosen area.

The government’s view is that VisitEngland is the best placed body to carry out these duties. The proposals are wholly in-keeping with their statutory function to promote England as a tourist destination and develop its tourist amenities and facilities.

The government will provide VisitEngland with additional funding to carry out this leadership role. The government has allocated a budget of up to £4 million across the 2022-2025 Spending Review period. Any future funding will be considered as part of the next Spending Review.

Recommendation 5: The government must also change its approach, in order to maximise the success of the new system. There is currently insufficient appreciation of the importance and promise of the visitor economy at the top of government, leading to unfilled potential in DMOs and the wider tourism landscape. In practice, responsibility for tourism policy cuts across multiple departments, creating a confusing picture. Practical measures to address these issues could include elevating the Tourism Minister to a Minister of State position and either reallocating responsibilities from other departments to sit under that Minister or making the Minister responsible for the activities of teams within multiple departments — this latter suggestion is an established practice already in other policy areas which cut across Whitehall departments.

The government disagrees with this recommendation.

The government does not accept that there is insufficient appreciation of the importance and promise of the visitor economy within government policy making. In the 24 months between April 2020 and March 2022 at least £37 billion was provided to the leisure, hospitality and tourism sectors in the form of grants, loans, tax breaks and wage subsidies to support businesses and workers through the pandemic. During 2021, comprehensive cross-government sector recovery plans were published, including the government’s Tourism Recovery Plan and the Hospitality Strategy: Reopening, Recovery and Resilience. These plans recognise the importance of the sector, and set out detailed recovery frameworks and accompanying policy interventions.

The government does, however, accept that the pandemic has highlighted the need for a more joined-up and consistent approach to the visitor economy across government than has previously been the case. Given the breadth and complexity of the visitor economy, it is unsurprising that almost all government departments hold policy levers with the ability to affect the fortunes of the sector.

DCMS holds the sector leadership and is responsible for many of these levers including the work of VisitEngland and VisitBritain as well as cultural and heritage organisations like museums, galleries, and historic sites. However, other departments with significant influence on the visitor economy include the Department for Transport (air, cruise, coaches and rail), the Home Office (visas and borders), HM Treasury (tax), the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (hospitality, weddings, consumer protection) and the Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs (National Landscapes, zoos, waterways). In the past, Departments have not always worked together with a strategic overview of the visitor economy. That is why to support that work, the government set out plans in the Tourism Recovery Plan to introduce a new Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) to coordinate policy with an impact on tourism and the visitor economy.

The inaugural meeting of the IMG on the Visitor Economy took place in January 2022, and was chaired by the Secretary of State for DCMS, Rt Hon Nadine Dorries MP. Ministers from departments and territorial offices across government attended, along with the interim Chair of the British Tourist Authority, Dame Judith MacGregor.

The IMG is supported by the industry-led Tourism Industry Council (TIC), co-chaired by the Minister for Sport, Tourism, Heritage and Civil Society and Karin Sheppard (SVP & Managing Director Europe at IHG). Following the de Bois review, membership of TIC was altered to include greater DMO representation, with representatives from VisitWest and the Newcastle Gateshead Initiative invited to the Council. Four Working Groups, supporting delivery of the objectives set out within the Tourism Recovery Plan, have been established on the themes of sustainability, accessibility, international demand and business events. DCMS welcomes DMO representation on these Working Groups.

VisitEngland has continued to adapt its approach to supporting the DMO network throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This support will be refreshed and enhanced as part of accreditation and the pilot, including dedicated regional resources to facilitate partnership working across the local visitor economy landscape and new guidance and tools to drive delivery. A range of DMO support schemes have been delivered (outlined under Recommendation 2, point 17). Further support includes:

VisitEngland has provided strategic advice and guidance to DMOs on the visitor economy to support inclusion in local plans. This has been delivered through one-to -one engagements; the DMO taskforce set up to drive strong communications and sharing of consistent government messaging, advice and support; plus regular DMO Forum calls to share best practice, as well as receive updates on opportunities and national developments.

Campaigns such as English Tourism Week, We’re Good to Go and National Lottery Days Out Scheme have facilitated DMO engagement with a wide range of stakeholders and businesses from across the visitor economy. English Tourism Week has provided DMOs with the opportunity to showcase crucial issues such as skills and careers and its importance to jobs and economic growth.

Training has also been delivered to help DMOs and their businesses internationalise their product offer through digital skills and by providing the TXGB (Tourism Exchange Great Britain) platform to drive bookability and global sales and distribution.

Recommendation 6: In order to help DMOs and local authorities take decisions on how best to develop the visitor economy in their local area, the government should improve access to quality data by introducing the proposed Tourism Data Hub as a matter of urgency.

The government agrees in principle with this recommendation.

The government recognises how important data is to actors across the visitor economy, who rely on it for both strategic and tactical decisions including product pricing, investment and establishing target markets. The government also recognises that there are a number of issues with current visitor economy data sources such as the International Passenger Survey, which does not produce robust data at a regional or local level.

That is why the government remains committed to exploring the potential for a Tourism Data Hub, along the lines set out in the 2019 Tourism Sector Deal. However, introducing the proposed Tourism Data Hub is complex and, as of yet, unfunded. Under these proposals, the government would need to work with the private sector to acquire, clean, analyse and disseminate anonymised data they hold on consumer behaviour.

Acquiring this data will require robust privacy and data sharing agreements as well as assurances that the data is sufficiently representative to draw wider conclusions (e.g. does data held by a credit card company represent all credit card users/consumers or only a subset). Furthermore, the government would need to ensure it has sufficiently capable systems/architecture in place to store, clean, link, transform, quality assure and analyse the data received.

The government is therefore taking steps to explore alternative proposals. For example, DCMS is working closely together with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to understand how the government can better utilise visitor economy data held across government departments as an initial step. This work is progressing under the National Data Strategy as part of the ONS’ development of an Integrated Data Platform. Furthermore, as part of their budget settlement at the Spending Review, the British Tourist Authority (trading as VisitBritain and VisitEngland) will be investing to improve their own data acquisition, storage and transformation capabilities with respect to marketing and promotion data.

In addition, the ONS is conducting a review of travel and tourism statistics. This review aims to better utilise tourism data to deliver improvements to existing statistics, in particular the granularity, accuracy and timeliness, to better meet the needs of users. Not only will this work assist DMOs with their decision making through the availability of better quality official statistics, but it will also provide insight into the data sources available which will help with the development of a Tourism Data Hub in the future.

Recommendations for destination management organisations

Recommendation 7: DMOs must accept that they also have a role to play in driving forward change; it cannot just be left to the government. To maximise the success of the new structure, DMOs will need to take a less territorial approach, have a greater focus on collaboration, and recognise that the current fragmentation is holding them back from acting as effective advocates for the visitor economy.

The government agrees with the de Bois report’s finding that the fragmentation and confusing picture of the current DMO landscape is detrimental to the ability of DMOs to engage effectively with actors across the public and private sector. The creation of a national portfolio will help address this issue, but in some parts of the country where there is excessive geographical overlap and fragmentation, rationalisation may be needed. This will need to be led by the DMOs themselves and DMOs should not expect the government to act as an arbitrator between DMOs competing to represent the same territory.

Recommendation 8: DMOs should seek to diversify their income streams, and should share and learn from examples of best practice.

The de Bois report covered a wide range of ways in which DMOs might consider expanding their commercial revenue sources. The government is supportive of DMOs doing this. A commitment to doing so will be part of the accreditation criteria for membership of the national portfolio, and LVEPs will be expected to evidence progress in order to maintain their accreditation.

Recommendation 9: DMOs should have a rigorous focus on keeping the skill sets and expertise of their own staff up-to-date, particularly with respect to digital skills, so as to ensure their destination’s offer continues to be sustainable and competitive.

The government agrees with de Bois’ assessment that DMO staff are passionate, dedicated and knowledgeable. However, the government also agrees that in some areas, such as digital skills and understanding of the international travel trade, sales and distribution, there is room for development. VisitEngland has worked with DMOs in recent years to develop skills in these areas and will continue to do so as part of its suite of business support activities. Having additional resources to facilitate DMO knowledge-sharing will also help with this.

De Bois’ report also referred to the potential for DMO staff to act as ambassadors for the tourism and hospitality industry, for example by going into schools, colleges and universities to promote job and career opportunities. A strategic focus on skills will be an important element of any funding pilot.

Recommendation 10: DMOs should have more diverse boards that fully represent their communities as well as their businesses and visitors.

As set out in the Public Appointments Diversity Action Plan, the government is committed to improving the representation of individuals from underrepresented backgrounds on public boards. The government agrees with de Bois that the governance structure of a LVEP should strive to reflect the visitor economy it represents - businesses and current consumers, but also potential future consumers - and that it can be helpful to have multiple perspectives informing decisions. We welcome efforts from DMOs (as they are currently known) to attract a diverse range of views to inform their governance.

Recommendations for local enterprise partnerships and local authorities

Recommendation 11: Local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) must realise the value of tourism, ensure the visitor economy is fully integrated into their economic strategies and play their full role as partners in the activities of their accredited LVEPs and Destination Development Partnerships. They should recognise that LVEPs are best placed to drive growth in regional tourism and they should actively support them.

The government recognises the vital role that LEPs can play in supporting both their local visitor economy and the work of LVEPs, including through forming formal partnerships. Following the conclusion of the recent LEP Review, the government has set out a clear list of functions that can be provided by LEPs.

In addition to embedding a strong, independent business voice into local decision making, LEPs should continue to carry out strategic economic planning in partnership with local leaders in a way that clearly articulates their area’s economic priorities and sectoral strengths. This should include working closely with LVEPs, where appropriate, to increase investment, jobs and growth in the visitor economy.

Recommendation 12: Local government — be that a District Council, County Council, Mayoral Combined Authority or any other formulation — must also realise the value of tourism and should strive to play their part in supporting accredited LVEPs and Destination Development Partnerships. They should accept that for LVEPs to be at their best, they need to be public/private/community partnerships, not based solely in a Local Authority but working in partnership with them. They should also involve their LVEP in any policy decision-making affecting the visitor economy.

The government agrees with de Bois recommendation that for LVEPs to perform at their best, they must work in partnership with public and private sector partners who hold the policy levers and funding needed to achieve the full potential of their local visitor economies. Close partnership working between LVEPs and all levels of local government will be key to levelling up, driving local economic growth and spreading opportunity more equally across the UK.

Although tourism is not a statutory responsibility of local authorities, the government agrees that local governments can play an important role in supporting the role and work of LVEPs and that — as the report points out — this is often achieved most effectively when local government and DMOs (as they are currently known) work together at a higher strategic level of geography (e.g. over a County or a Combined Authority area).

Through the Levelling Up White Paper, the government has set out that by 2030, ‘every part of England that wants one will have a devolution deal with powers at or approaching the highest level of devolution with a simplified, long-term funding settlement’, and this commitment provides an opportunity to empower local leaders within these areas to renew their focus on and drive forward the potential of the visitor economy, including through closer partnerships with their local LVEPs.

The wider implementation of recommendations from the de Bois Review will serve as a model for how local and regional partners can best work together to support their local visitor economy. This will include their plans for devolution, and help to realise the visitor economy’s potential to deliver the government’s priorities for Levelling Up — for example, by growing productivity, income, and employment locally, as well as by helping places to develop a sense of community and pride about their local areas.

Government response to the independent review of destination management organisations in England

Applies to England

Ministerial foreword

Background