by business editor Trevor Sturgess

The Government has been urged to stick with tourism businesses in the face of threatened spending cuts.

Sandra Matthews-Marsh (pictured left), chief executive of promotional organisation Visit Kent, recently met Tourism Mnister John Penrose when he opened the Best Western Dover Marina Hotel and Spa in Dover.

She told him of her fears that spending cuts would damage the valuable private-public sector partnerships build up in the county. While Visit Kent has generally welcomed the government's national tourism policy, it wants local councils, under severe financial pressure, to ring-fence money for tourism and help keep visitors in the county longer.

"Local authorities have a key role to play in pump priming and underpinning the process of bringing various interests together," Ms Matthews-Marsh said.

"They help create a platform on which destination businesses can stand together, collaborate and interact in the task of delivering a rounded project to visitors.

"We call this a "sticky" destination, where each part of the visitor's journey plays its part to support the next and where the visitor is encouraged to "stick" longer because of the myriad of elements to retain their interest and spending."

She also called on the minister to back a bid for a Research Innovation and Technology Zone (RITZ) in East Kent to save tourism jobs that could be hit by the withdrawal of drugs giant Pfizer.

Ms Matthews-Marsh repeated her call for a lower rate of VAT for tourism-related business. The UK is one of only three EU countries without a reduced rate for tourism.