Now that our successful Olympic athletes are back, it's time to celebrate - and to look forward to London's own 2012 Games.

This is one of the biggest events of the calendar, as the Beijing event proved.

How does London compete?

Principally, by not competing with the grandeur of China's opening and closing ceremonies; we'll have to do things our way.

Nevertheless, despite the present economic gloom and cutback in consumer expenditure, the Olympics represent a huge opportunity to present Britain, and London in particular, on the world stage. We must make the most of it.

Strange, then, that the Department for Culture. Media and Sport, which claims to support the industry, has no plans to grant additional funds to VisitBritain to promote the event. Indeed, quite the reverse. DCMS is cutting VisitBritain's grant by 18 per cent over the next four years - this, after eight years of a standstill in funding. VisitBritain, which, by all official measures, is extremely well run, is thus expected to fulfil its world-wide promotional role with fewer resources and less money every year in the run-up to the Olympics.

This doesn't make sense. Indeed, the recent report on tourism by the Select Committee for Culture, labelled the DCMS's cutback in funding to Visit Britain as ' simply baffling'. What it means is clear: promotional activities for Britain aimed at important source countries will either have to be cut back or abandoned in order to ensure that there are sufficient resources to promote Britain's 2012 activities.

This muddled - and counter-productive - thinking is yet more evidence of the lack of interest that the government is taking in tourism. Little wonder that the industry is currently running a Let's Take Tourism Seriously campaign, led by the Tourism Alliance and strongly supported by the BHA.

This government indifference comes at a time when the hospitality industry is entering more uncertain and more demanding times than at any period in the last couple of decades. We have had a summer of poor weather which has certainly reduced the number of day visitors to our attractions and resorts. Whether it has affected domestic holidays is too early to say.

Reports in April and May that more Britons were aiming to holiday at home have since faded to be replaced by reports of an exodus of Britons looking for sunshine in August.

Some resort hotel operators report good business; demand in London remains strong but is weakening for provincial and country house hotels. Demand for eating-out is beginning to weaken and restaurateurs are having to make more use of promotions.

Yet, many new hotels are opening throughout the country - over 200 this year alone which, by BHA's reckoning, and including refurbishments, represents an investment of over £5bn in the current year alone So the industry is raising standards, introducing new facilities and opening new hotels from budget to de luxe. The industry has confidence in its future. It's time for government, too, to take tourism seriously, not neglect it.