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12.5 pm

Mr. Peter Viggers (Gosport): We have had a thoughtful and well-informed debate. If it has the effect of making people more aware of the importance of the tourism industry, it will have achieved its purpose, as will the authoritative report published by the National Heritage Select Committee earlier this week.

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Every hon. Member who has spoken has commented on the size of the tourism industry. It is perhaps surprising that it has such a low profile in public perception.The right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton(Mr. Kaufman) pointed out that the tourism industry is central, not peripheral, to the economy. Some 5 per cent. of the gross domestic product derives from tourism, as do some one in 14 jobs. About 1.7 million people are involved in the industry catering for some 24 million visitors each year, so it is a vast industry.

At the beginning of the year, 8.4 per cent. growth in tourism was forecast. The current figure is some 14 per cent., so the industry has already grown rapidly and40 per cent. of new jobs are expected to be in tourism, which already contributes some £25 billion a year to the economy.

However, the industry is on a 50-year decline. The traditional tourist destinations do not draw as they did because of the alternative attractions of the weather and the cultural differences in other countries. According to my research, we have a deficit of some £3.7 billion a year, although mention has been made of a £5 billion deficit. The disparity between those figures is not surprising as it is difficult to establish accurate statistics in such a deregulated industry.

Tourism is a difficult industry to organise. I read that some 120,000 small businesses are involved in tourism; however, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State referred to some 250,000 enterprises. The figures vary, depending on whether they include individual landladies and bed-and-breakfast establishments. Therefore, it is difficult for the Government to take responsibility for the tourism industry. Their job must be to lead, inspire and encourage and to use the small amount of money involved intelligently.

My own experience is that, somewhat to my surprise, in 1986 I became a Minister in the Northern Ireland Office, with responsibility for industry, a post that included responsibility for tourism. In Northern Ireland, the pronunciation of the word tourism sounds much like that of terrorism, so I could stop a cocktail party when people thought that I was Minister for terrorism in Northern Ireland.

It was a difficult time, when terrorism was rife in the Province, so we tried to develop different niche markets for tourists. One such niche market was fishing, which interested many Germans. I remember visiting those taking part in a fishing competition at Lough Erne in Northern Ireland. I approached a fisherman who had a German fishing rod, a German fishing bag and another piece of German equipment, and said in bad schoolboy German, "How much have you caught today?" He said, "Two fish and one Minister, Minister." He was, in fact, a civil servant from my Department.

On taking up my post, I inherited a situation where the Northern Ireland tourist board was not speaking to the Bord Failte Eireann, the Republic of Ireland tourist board. When it was suggested that we should promote co-operation between the two, it was widely regarded as a political move that would be unhelpful. We went ahead, and it proved absolutely right to promote the whole of Ireland. When trying to encourage people in Newfoundland or Tasmania to come to Northern Ireland,

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one has first to explain that the island is divided into two different regimes. It is much easier to say, "When you are in Ireland, come to the north", which was the campaign that we developed.

We found in the Department that it was possible to develop niche markets. Tourism is about not one big market but niche markets. We in Northern Ireland developed the niche market of sport and promoted the attractions of the countryside, so that when people came to see their families, we encouraged them to visit elsewhere in Northern Ireland, and when they came on business, we encouraged them to come next time with their wives and families and spend an extra day or so. That is why I suggest that one can bring to the discussion on tourism the concept that it is important to have a professional approach and develop niche markets. The French, for instance, are particularly interested in shopping in England, the Japanese are more interested in cultural activities--the so-called "tea and roses campaign"--and the Americans are, of course, keen on the theatre. The success of tourism derives from its deregulation.

Following the important point made by the right hon. Member for Gorton, as tourism is so central to our economy, so important and such a growth area, I would encourage people to think of the tourism industry in its broadest sense as an appropriate career path. I suspect that very few people at school or college think of tourism as their intended career, but there is a very good career to be made in hotel management, travel and all the different aspects of tourism. I hope that my hon. Friend the Minister will be able to respond to that point and think of ways in which younger people can be encouraged to consider tourism in its broader sense as an appropriate career. They should be encouraged to think that serving others who are tourists is in no way demeaning. It is worth while and appropriate.

Representing Gosport, as I do, I can tell the House that the area is looking very much to the millennium project for Portsmouth harbour and hoping that it will be signed and carried forward very soon. The concept is dramatic, with walkways on the Portsmouth and Gosport sides of the harbour, a very high tower on the Gunwharf site in Portsmouth and clever use of illumination. It has every prospect of being one of the millennium's most exciting projects and one of the most exciting developments of a region of the United Kingdom.

As a parallel, I think of San Antonio in Texas, and the Alamo. Everyone has heard of the Alamo--the site of a famous siege--but it is rather disappointing once one gets there. People in San Antonio tried to work out how to develop the place as a tourist attraction, since once one has seen the Alamo, one is not likely to spend a particularly exciting time in San Antonio. Alongside the river, they have developed a most exciting walkway with shops, restaurants and all kinds of entertainment facilities, and I see that as the future of the Portsmouth harbour Portsmouth-Gosport project.

Our area has many local facilities already, such as the submarine museum and the marina, and future developments are planned for the Royal Clarence yard and Priddy's Hard. If the harbour project goes ahead, it will put Gosport and Portsmouth very much on the tourist map and encourage people to visit the area not only to see HMS Victory, the Mary Rose, or HMS Warrior, and then go home, but to stay for several days using the hotels.

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The whole concept will come to full, flowering fruition only if people are encouraged to make use of the water when they are there. We want people to come to the Portsmouth-Gosport area and book into a hotel. I would love to see a cruise liner put into Portsmouth harbour so that people could enjoy a static cruise, as it were, and then use boats to visit the other attractions of Portchester castle and the naval yard. That would make the area a dramatic holiday destination.

We have now been waiting some months for the project to be signed. The Millennium Commission has made demanding requests of the local authorities, but I understand that the project will be signed in the next two weeks or so. We are keen that that project should proceed, because it will provide, as my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State mentioned earlier, some 5,000 jobs locally.

The House will not expect me to make my next and final point. We need good facilities if we are to promote tourism in this country, and good facilities include every kind of convenience. I venture into the territory of my next remarks with great diffidence. Some 10 years ago, I made a speech in which I said that it was grossly unfair that women should have to queue for the loo. I first thought that at the London Coliseum theatre when I noticed that people were returning to their seats after the interval had finished and women were still queuing to get into the ladies' lavatory. It is monstrous that we should impose that inconvenience on women.

The problems derives from physical differences. The House will be entranced to hear, for instance, that men take an average of 45 seconds in the lavatory and women take an average of 80 seconds. As Claire Rayner the journalist has pointed out wittily, men have a handy little gadget for coping with the task, and women do not.

It is bad for tourism in this country that we still do not have fully adequate facilities for women. I make a plea for all those who make decisions on such issues to consider that. I do so with diffidence because, after my previous comments on the subject, I was inundated with letters and I did live television and radio interviews with Canada and Australia. I do not want any of that, but I must point out that decision makers, architects and managers, who tend to be men, usually provide the same sized areas for male and for female lavatories. In fact, women need around three times the amount of provision. I hope that that plea will be heard by some of the people who make the decisions about the provision of public lavatories.

I am afraid that I, too, have to leave before the end of the debate. I undertook a commitment at the beginningof the year to chair a meeting of the governors ofSt. Vincent's college in my constituency and I regret that I shall not be able to stay for the winding-up speech of my hon. Friend the Minister. I shall certainly read it in Hansard.


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