Queen honours inbound tour operators
Two inbound tour operators have been honoured by the Queen in her annual Awards for Enterprise.
CHR Travel and China Holidays, both members of the trade association UKinbound, were honoured for their outstanding achievements in international trade.
It is the first time in at least four years that a tour operator has been granted the Queens Award in this category.
UKinbound chief executive Mary Rance said: “Tourism is big business for UK plc. In 2008 around 32 million overseas visitors spent £16.4 billion in the UK. These awards acknowledge the contribution to export earnings made by the inbound tourism sector as well as the fantastic work done by China Holidays and CHR Travel.
“UKinbound hopes that Government will now recognise tourism’s contribution to the economy and invest accordingly in this important industry.
“Government investment in overseas marketing brings tangible returns to UK plc in terms of tourist spend and the removal of barriers to growth such as Air Passenger Duty and complex visa processes would further aid inbound trade from the emerging markets.â€
China Holidays brings in over 30 groups of Chinese business delegates to the UK each month, helping to arrange meetings with Government departments and other potential British trading partners.
CHR Travel specialises in hosting leisure groups from Asia, US, Australia and New Zealand, and each year brings 15,000 tourists to the UK.
By Bev Fearis
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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