The association that is representing Britain’s leading travel companies is now hoping to turn the government’s apathy towards tourism into an election issue. Now with the announcement on the date of the general election expected within just a few days, ABTA, the travel association, has set out the demands for the new government by launching “Travel Matters.” This is a five point manifesto for travel.

Some of the demands, which include things like reform of punitive taxation on travelers, the expansion of financial protection for holiday makers, as well as the creation of a dedicated minister for tourism, has received backing from the Federation of Tour Operators. This is a UK Tourism and Leisure Group, as well as a group of Mps and peers.

Right now Britain remains one of the few nations in the European Union that does not have a full time minister for tourism. The World Travel and Tourism Council has also calculated that the travel industry is currently worth about £135 billion a year for the British economy. This is an amount that is actually projected to rise to £227 billion by 2019. On top of this, the tourism industry accounts for almost three million jobs.

The responsibility for both inbound and outbound tourism is currently split across five different types of government departments. Everyone from the Treasury to the Department of Culture has a say in what goes on. Over the past decade or more, there have been eight different tourism ministers, all of whom had a lot more responsibilities than just overseeing tourism. Trying to take on tourism for a country should be a full time job, not split among other things.