Recommendation 21

We are deeply concerned about how long VisitBritain must wait for confirmation of its Comprehensive Spending Review funding and, particularly, its marketing spend approval. This year’s delays in the Professional Assurance approval process meant VisitBritain was unable to undertake critical work in international markets and so damaged the recovery of the inbound tourism sector as a whole. We welcome the fact that the Cabinet Office responded more quickly during lockdown, but this highlights not only the necessity of acting swiftly but also the Cabinet Office’s ability to do so. All marketing campaigns generate significant costs and so VisitBritain hits the threshold of £100,000 on most, if not all, of its work. Given that the Government established VisitBritain to promote Britain abroad, it is nonsensical that approval processes are directly limiting its ability to do so. We recognise that £100,000 may be a useful threshold for non-marketing organisations but the nature of VisitBritain’s work means that it should have a much higher threshold for its campaign spend.