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English Heritage says history is vital for tourism
English Heritage has published the State of the Historic Environment Report in which it claims many of our historical sites are under threat and without them, 'the UK's tourism industry would hardly exist'.
The report, the first-ever national audit of England's listed buildings, monuments, parks and gardens, was commissioned by the government to measure and assess the condition of our buildings and archaeology as well as investigating what impact it has on the day to day lives of people in England.
The report says that urgent action is required prevent England 'squandering its most valuable resource' - identifying parks and gardens as particularly at risk, both from lack of investment and from developers.
According to the report, in 2001 UK residents made 140m trips to England during the year (spending £20bn) and overseas visitors making 19.3m trips (spending £10bn) - with 57.7m recorded visits to 983 leading historic visitor attractions.
A huge proportion of these trips are driven by a desire to visit historical sites, says English Heritage: 'In 1996, 37 per cent of overseas visitors mentioned visiting world heritage sites as being of particular importance in influencing their decision to visit Britain, 29 per cent said exploring historic towns and cities and 29 per cent said visiting museums, galleries and heritage centres.'
A 1995 survey showed that 54 per cent of visitors to London did so intending to visit historic buildings during their stay and 79 per cent of all overseas tourists did visit a historic site.
' The historic environment is a major economic asset, in a global economy, it gives us a unique competitive advantage,' says Sir Neil Cossons, chair of English Heritage.
'England has one of the richest cultural landscapes in the world, it is an incomparable asset. It is essential to our future and we squander it at our peril.'
These views were echoed by chief executive of English Heritage, Simon Thurley, in an interview with the Sunday Times last week. He said that the level of interest in historic buildings meant that they must be 'kept up to scratch'.
He says the biggest problem is the huge cost of restoration and is calling for a VAT reform, to reduce the current 17.5 per cent rate of VAT which is currently payable on repairs and restoration.
The report can be downloaded for free from www.english-heritage.org.uk