Billions lost in Norfolk and Suffolk tourism during pandemic

Attractions for tourists in the East include Great Yarmouth

Billions of pounds and thousands of jobs were lost in the tourism sector during the Covid-19 pandemic, an industry body has said.

Visit East of England said the value of tourism shrunk by 56% in Norfolk, from £3.4bn in 2019 to £1.5bn in 2020, and 59% in Suffolk, from £2.1bn to £885m.

The pandemic had a "dramatic impact", with about 40% of tourism jobs lost.

A spokesman said it highlighted "the importance of the sector for the wider economy and employment".

In addition to losses in revenue from day-trippers and those staying for holidays, tourism-related employment in Norfolk fell 38% from 69,266 to 43,414 and in Suffolk 42% from 44,498 to 25,840, Visit East of England said.

Tourism bosses are confident the sector can survive and bounce back

Mary Sparrow, chair of Visit the Broads, said: "The figures are down, but businesses were open for less than half their usual amount of time, so we should take this as a positive compared to what they could have been.

"For most businesses, 2020 was not about making profit but remaining in business and a significant majority achieved this - and did so whilst implementing new safety measures to ensure all guests were good to go and safe."

Norfolk and Suffolk Tourist Attractions deputy chairman Peter Williamson said: "Despite lockdowns, the attractions sector didn't do too badly, even with restricted numbers.

"This was made possible by government assistance, particularly with the reduction in VAT, but fixed costs are going up, some of which might get passed on to the visitor, and there are staff shortages, but we've come through this and that's the main thing."

Tourism bodies said the industry was vital to the East of England

Visit East of England's executive director, Pete Waters, said the figures demonstrated "the resilience of businesses to get through what could have been a catastrophic situation".

"Clearly government financial interventions were key and furloughing helped avoid a large number of redundancies," he said.

"Nonetheless, the figures highlight the importance of the sector for the wider economy and employment, and the need for tourism to have had a strong 2021.

"Businesses will have learnt lessons from the pandemic and the industry will come back stronger in 2022."