Devon’s tourism leaders win big at the SWTA
23rd April 2021
A number of Devon’s tourism leaders have been announced as the winners of this year’s Outstanding Contribution to Tourism.
This group of individuals are a group of tourism leaders who have met online every week for over a year, with huge amounts of work going on between meetings to help aid a quicker recovery for the South West region following the Covid-19 pandemic. Visit Devon’s Sally Everton is just one of this group, which is known as the Great South West Tourism Partnership.
Together, the Great South West Tourism Partnership have lobbied government for rule changes, tax breaks, support and funding for tourism businesses across the South West of England. They have also engaged with ministers to present the case for British tourism in this region, liaising with them, local governments, councils and LEPs to make sure that everyone is well informed at every step of the way.
The group have been instrumental in changing the social distancing rules from 2 meters to 1, reducing VAT from 20% to 5% for the tourism and hospitality businesses and ensuring increased payouts from insurance companies as well as making sure that there are additional grants available for those that were not eligible for many of the proposed government funds.
The Great South West Tourism Partnership were awarded their Outstanding Contribution to Tourism Awards on 22nd April. The partnership is made up of the following industry leaders:
Amanda Lumley from VisitPlymouth, Alistair Handyside from PASC and SWTA, Malcolm Bell from Visit Cornwall, Becky Davies from the Torbay Development Agency, Sally Everton from Visit Devon, Emma Thomasson from Visit Exmoor, Giles Adams and John Turner from Visit Somerset, Martin Cox from the Dorset Tourism Association and Carolyn Custerson from the English Riviera.