Howells explains tourism slump

Forget foot-and-mouth, the prospect of war on Iraq or just the miserable winter weather. The reason for plummeting transatlantic tourism in the past year is that Americans have never heard of the United Kingdom. And those that have think it is somewhere in the Middle East.

That was the novel explanation given by Kim Howells, the Tourism minister, yesterday when he appeared before MPs to discuss the "dismal" failure to encourage tourists to leave London and explore other cities and the countryside.

Mr Howells, already infamous in government circles for his candid views on modern art, underlined his reputation for frankness by highlighting the American phobia of modern geography.

The minister said many Americans knew all about England and London but few had any idea what the United Kingdom actually was. He told the Culture Select Committee: "Very often people do not understand the title of the country ... In America, people had heard of London, some had heard of England, no one had heard of the United Kingdom. They thought it was somewhere in the Middle East."

He accepted that London was the "great icon" of the UK tourism industry but pointed out that half of the people who visited the UK from overseas last year did not go out of the capital except for day trips.

It had been argued the capital ought to be seen as a gateway, encouraging visitors to go to other areas. "I am afraid London and the other tourism boards have failed dismally to do this," Mr Howells said. Dispersing more people to areas outside London would not only spread tourism income but add to the country's attraction to potential visitors.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Culture said the minister was making a "light- hearted" comment to illustrate the need to use expressions in marketing that were familiar to customers. The Government spends 20p per head on tourism in England, compared with £8.28 in Wales and £5.50 in Scotland. Mr Howells said the results of that drew little relation to such discrepancies. Last year, overseas visitors spent £9.9bn in England, £250m in Wales and £760m in Scotland.

The Government announced plans last month to combine the resources of the English Tourism Council with the British Tourist Authority.

That move has prompted worries that the new body's role in marketing the United Kingdom abroad could clash with its duties in promoting England to domestic tourists.

Tessa Jowell, the Secretary of State for Culture, said "some offence" had been caused in the past by the perception that the BTA was an England-focused organisation.