Topical Questions

Answer: I am a huge fan of the ““Lonely Planet”” travel guides, but I am not a great fan of its guides to the UK. The most important thing that it needs to update is the fact that there is an outstanding new tourism Minister, the Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, my hon. Friend the Member for Weston-super-Mare (John Penrose), who has taken charge of the British tourism industry and is ringing the changes to make Britain a better tourism destination.

This is an answer to the Topical question asked on Thursday, 3 March 2011 by Greg Hands (Conservative).

Question: My right hon. Friend will be aware of BBC Worldwide's bid for the remaining stake in "Lonely Planet" travel guides. Will he undertake to have a word with BBC Worldwide about the history sections in some of these travel guides? The one for England, for example, has a rather partial view of the 1980s. It says: ““Trade unions archaic? She””— Margaret Thatcher— ““smashed them. British industry inefficient? She shut it down. Nationalised companies a mistake? She sold them off””. Can he make sure that there is a slightly more nuanced and balanced section in these travel guides? Having said that, the section ends by saying that ““her repeated electoral victories were helped considerably by the Labour Party's total incompetence””.

Secondary information