WEST Somerset’s MP Ian Liddell-Grainger has called for an all-out effort to promote Exmoor and the Somerset Levels to tourists and so strengthen a vital income stream for the local economy.

He says both extremes of his Bridgwater and West Somerset constituency largely remain hidden gems among Britain’s tourist attractions with their full potential still to be unlocked.

But, he said, both foreign and domestic tourists were constantly looking for new destinations – and one of Europe’s last great wetlands and England’s smallest national park both had huge amounts to offer.

Mr Liddell-Grainger was speaking after joining Tourism Minister Michael Ellis (pictured) to shine a spotlight on the country’s tourism industry during English Tourism Week. Now in its eighth year, it aims to raise the profile and showcase the benefits of tourism to local communities and the economy.

It is 50 years since the Development of Tourism Act was passed and VisitBritain/VisitEngland are using this milestone for renewed promotion of tourism as one of the UK’s biggest drivers of economic growth and employment.

English tourism directly employs more than 2.6 million people and generates more than £106 billion a year for the British economy. English destinations are also a huge draw for overseas visits – in the first nine months of 2018 there were a record 11.9 million visits to them.

But Mr Liddell-Grainger said millions of holidaymakers drove or took the train across the Levels each year without realising they were travelling through a unique landscape.

“I accept the emphasis has been very much on nature conservation on the Levels in recent decades but there’s little point in creating wildlife reserves unless you actually encourage people to visit them,” he said.

He said Exmoor’s settlements had experienced a gradual decline in local services since the moor acquired national park status.

“For a very long time there was an unwillingness to promote the park, either nationally or internationally, by an authority which seemed to take the view that too many visitors would get in the way of the biologists, archaeologists and conservationists.

“But the economic price that has had to be paid as a result of being the country’s least-visited national park can be seen wherever you look,” he said.

“I should hate to see Exmoor subjected to the same pressures from mass tourism that has scarred other national parks but there is plenty of room for more tourists as long as they are properly managed.

“And given that farming, the only other significant industry, is only ‘profitable’ thanks to massive subsidies clearly the expansion of Exmoor’s tourism sector is an opportunity that cannot and must not be missed.”