Travel and tourism industry body ABTA has issued a manifesto urging the government to support all three sectors of the industry – domestic, outbound and inbound – in order to maximise its benefit to the UK economy.

Valuing the UK's Tourism Mix, presented to parliament on 27 February, outlines four policy priorities the government should pursue to support the industry: strategic infrastructure support; creating a more competitive product; good regulation for confident customers and businesses; and promoting the industry as a key employer.

In the paper’s introduction, ABTA chief executive Mark Tanzer said the government’s 2011 tourism policy was heavily focussed on the inbound and domestic sectors, but the outbound sector was just as important, and all three sectors were interconnected.

The paper states new airline connections with emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia, India and China should be encouraged, but warns healthy inbound and outbound markets are required to justify new routes.

Other measures supported in the document were new runways at Heathrow and Gatwick, reduced departure taxes, shorter queues at border control, support for SMEs, marketing the UK abroad, and investing in training and skills.

Tanzer said: “Tourism is the UK’s fifth largest industry and has enormous potential to help create jobs and economic growth.

“The government has an important role to play in ensuring businesses can continue to deliver a competitive product to a confident consumer base.”

Minister for Tourism Hugh Robertson said the sector made a significant contribution to national and local economies and the government was committed to supporting it.