Tourism, churches and
Tony Blair became Prime Minister on a wave of New Britain and New Labour. An early message was “out with everything old and turn our back on the past”.
Yet Britain is shaped by its history which oozes from every field and farm, hill and valley, village and coastline. Two out of three visitors from overseas identify churches and cathedrals as a main focus for their visit to the UK. Most of Britain’s old churches are free-entry fascinating places of the amazing history of these islands.
In 2005 Britain was fifth in the international tourism earnings league behind USA, Spain, France and Italy. The potential for visitors from fast-growing China and India has yet to feature.
Tourism is a significant earner of much needed foreign currency. In 2003 it represented about 3.5% of the UK economy generating some £74.2bn, of which £15bn was spent by overseas visitors. But UK citizens spend more on their trips abroad. The impact of increased taxes on air travel is yet to be felt.
Overseas visitors to the UK come primarily from the USA (3.8m visits), France, Germany, the Irish Republic and Spain(1.8m). Success for UK tourism lies in increasing the spending of UK citizens on day trips within the UK, and short stay, as well as longer holidays.
In terms of employment, tourism used to be seen as second-rate, seasonal, part-time and low pay in its character, but in the fast- changing economics of the global market such employment is no longer despised. An estimated 1.4m people work in UK tourism, 130,400 being self-employed. Tourism is not an easily defined employment category, and in rural areas many local amenities like shops, pubs and garages may significantly depend on the income from visitors. Rural tourism data is hard to find. What would be of great use is for each rural community to gather its own tourism data: how many visitors, their ages and place of residence, how many bed-nights, what were they looking for, did they enjoy their visit, how much did they spend?
Church managers have come to understand the contribution that their much loved old church can have, not just in sharing the Gospel message, but to the local economy too. An open church, well- presented, may persuade that car load of visitors to spend longer in the village, eat a meal in the pub, pop into the local shop or art gallery and explore the beauty of the walk through the woods down to the river. Such a pleasant way of spending a couple of hours enhances the visitor experience, puts cash into the local economy and reduces the amount of petrol that would have been used in driving off quickly to another place. Locked churches frustrate those looking for culture and meaning in a turbulent world. They are also an affront to our hospitable and generous God.
For over 15 years there have been growing efforts to encourage
churches to take the ministry to visitors more seriously. In the first place some dioceses employed tourism officers. The National Churches Tourism Group came together in the 1990s; a plethora of local initiatives across the country began to blossom. In almost every county churches and chapels began to work hard at being open and well presented. Local communities came to realise the importance of their place of worship
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www.arthurrankcentre.org.uk
church and economy
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