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The great and good of the UK tourist economy will descend on Kent in a little over a week for a national conference featuring speakers from the county’s top attractions.
The Tourism Symposium will look at ways of propelling the sector forward, featuring talks from bosses at Paramount resort, Dreamland, English Heritage, Southeastern and HS1.
These include TV chef Rosemary Shrager, who runs a cookery school in Tunbridge Wells, and Steven Norris, the ex-transport minister who is now chairman of Paramount’s developers.
Sandra Matthews-Marsh MBE, chairman of the Tourism Society and chief executive of Visit Kent, said the two-day event will set the tone for the industry in the immediate aftermath of the general election.
She said: “Encouragingly, the major political parties all made reference to tourism in their manifestos which suggests they have finally come round to recognising the importance of the industry to the UK’s economy - we do not want it to slip off the radar now the votes have been counted.
“The new Government’s five year term will prove to be extremely interesting for the tourism industry, and the Tourism Symposium will give attendees the opportunity to hear the views of a line-up of top speakers in the immediate aftermath of the General Election.
“The panel discussion on transport infrastructure, chaired by former government transport minister, Steven Norris, will undoubtedly cover topics such as UK airport expansion and the development of HS1.
"Similarly, the keynote address on arts and culture by Sir Peter Bazalgette, Chairman of Arts Council England will take in to consideration the new government’s culture related policies.”
The event, held at Eastwell Manor in Ashford and University of Kent in Canterbury on June 1 and 2, will highlight how inbound tourism is the UK’s fifth biggest industry and the third largest employer in the country.
Kent alone attracts 57 million visitors worth £3.4 billion to the local economy and supports 67,000 jobs – about 11% of total employment in the county.
