How a UK Garden City could boost untapped potential to the UK economy
Garden tourism has much more economic potential which is yet to be exploited
In 2018, there were 37.9 million overseas visitors who came to the UK. Almost a third of all visits to the UK include a trip to a garden or park, and there have been annual increases in garden day trips in England every year since 2014.
Garden tourism generates almost £3billion in GDP to the UK. In this new report, MPs agree with the National Garden Scheme who state that the benefits the sector brings are “not properly understood” and “underestimated in financial, social and cultural terms.”
Taking evidence at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show
The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee held an evidence session at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, examining the contribution of gardens to the UK’s economy.
The Committee questioned representatives from the National Trust, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Royal Horticultural Society, Royal Parks and VisitBritain about how gardens attract visitors, support the economy, and what more support the Government could provide to the industry. They also explored issues around the sustainability of the sector and the UK’s place in the garden design industry.
Five ways the Government and other bodies can help enable garden tourism to thrive
1. The creation of a 'UK Garden City' competition
The benefits that the City of Culture initiative brings to local areas is well-evidenced. The creation of a 'UK Garden City' competition as a counterpart to this would raise the profile of garden tourism. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport should scope out how such an initiative could work in the next twelve months, with a view to launching the first competition before the end of 2020.
2. Convene a new taskforce
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport should convene a new taskforce including representatives from VisitBritain and the gardening sector to better co-ordinate garden tourism marketing activity. They should meet before the end of 2019.
3. Increase the evidence base for garden tourism
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and VisitBritain should increase the evidence base for garden tourism. This would include tracking the ongoing economic contribution of the sector and including such data in official department estimates. This could be done within the new Tourism Data Hub recently announced since the launch of the Committee’s inquiry.
4. Explicitly champion garden tourism
Local Enterprise Partnerships are a key vehicle for driving local economic growth and could play an important role in spreading the benefits of garden tourism more evenly across England.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and VisitBritain should build on the April 2019 guidance to Local Enterprise Partnerships by more explicitly championing garden tourism, and proactively seeking to ensure that tourism is included in the local industrial strategies of areas that contain the 20 most visited gardens outside London.
“Britain’s gardens are part of what make Britain great. It’s time for the garden design and tourism industries to be properly recognised for the significant contribution they make to our economy. It was clear from the evidence that there is so much potential here that needs to be tapped in to.”
The Government must now respond to our report
Our report, Garden Design and Tourism, was published on Monday 22nd July 2019, and the Government has two months to respond to our recommendations.
Detailed information from our inquiry can be found on our website.
If you’re interested in our work, you can find out more on the House of Commons DCMS Select Committee website. You can also follow our work on Twitter.
The House of Commons Digital Culture Media and Sport Select Committee is a cross-party committee of MPs that scrutinises the work of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and its associated public bodies, including the BBC.
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