London 2012 Launches British Tourism Scheme

Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt has launched a new £6m scheme linked to the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics with the aim of boosting domestic tourism – which Hunt claims could create 12,000 new jobs and lead to an extra £500m being spent in the economy over the next three years.??

The new programme includes £3m worth of funding from the anticipated underspend on the London 2012 budget.??

Hunt said: ‘We think this is a real opportunity. Because the whole country is paying for the Olympics we want the whole country to benefit’.??

‘Given the urgency of the economic situation we face we don’t want to leave any stone unturned’.??

‘We want to use next year as the moment we turned round the domestic [tourism] market’.??

The scheme is the first of several initiatives Hunt plans to unveil in the build-up to London 2012, to show the whole of Britain is benefitting from staging the Olympics and Paralympics, not just the capital. ??

Hunt added: ‘We want to harness that [free public relations] for the UK and turn it into holidays booked’. ??

‘We want to grasp the opportunity. The global spotlight will be on the city and the country’.