‘We’ve got to get tourists to visit places outside London’

“I’ve been cleaning toilets and changing beds, pulling pints, making a very bad cup of cappuccino, and cutting up onions badly.

- Simon Calder

” Should Chris Bryant ever wish to switch career and move into the hospitality industry, he might want to work on his CV. Yet the tourism minister gets an A for effort. On Wednesday afternoon, I caught up with him at Mylor Sailing School in Cornwall. He had just completed a stint of work experience that had included a hotel in Falmouth and a watersports enterprise just north on Mylor Creek.

“First of all, I’m trying to champion British tourism,” Bryant told me. “As you know, the number of domestic visitors to UK tourism venues has fallen, and has not reached pre-Covid levels yet. Secondly, I want to listen to the industry about the challenges they face.”

That is a brave invitation to businesses who feel bruised by employers’ national insurance rises, are angry at what they see as unfair competition from short-term lets on platforms such as Airbnb, and are unimpressed by the level of support the tourism industry gets from the government.

More than one business leader has complained to me about Bryant’s job title. He is the minister for creative industries, arts and tourism, and therefore has plenty on his professional plate besides the crucial business of persuading more British holidaymakers to stay at home - and luring more foreign visitors to the UK. Oh, and he also serves as MP for Rhondda and Ogmore. But today, the focus of the multitasking minister was strictly tourism.