Falling Behind – International Tourist Board Funding Compared

This report compares the funding for VisitBritain against other destinations around the world. It finds that, compared to nine other competitor destinations the UK performs poorly in terms of investment in international tourism marketing. Specifically:

• Pre-Covid funding of VisitBritain was 26% below the average of the UK’s competitor destinations.

• The UK only allocated an additional £1.6m per annum (3% of the DCMS tourism budget) to support tourism recovery compared to the average of £126m in competitor destinations.

• Due to a lack of tourism recovery funds, funding of VisitBritain is now 35% below the average of the UK’s competitor destinations.