UK Culture minister Margaret Hodge has pledged to be ‘the champion’ of the British tourism and visitor attractions industry across government, but questioned the organisational structure of the sector.

Speaking at the annual Visitor Attractions Conference (VAC) yesterday, Hodge also told delegates that there remains a ‘lot of work’ to improve the tourism offering in the UK ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games.

She said: “What I have seen so far is that it (visitor attractions) is a very fragmented industry which has a very fragmented dialogue with government.

“I think there could be a lot of thought put into the way you organise yourselves.”

Hodge also said that more emphasis should be placed on encouraging growth in the domestic tourism market, which currently accounts for 80 per cent if the sector’s revenue.

“To get the full benefit of 2012, what really matters is getting the product right – only that way the UK’s tourism industry can grow and be prepared for the Games,” she said.

“We already know that we have an enormous challenge ahead of us over the state of the accommodation in London, with only one third of accommodation providers being rated according to a recognised standard.”

This year’s VAC, being held for the fourth time, also included a key note speech by Christopher Rodrigues, chair of VisitBritain, in which he voiced his concerns over the government’s proposed cuts in the VisitBritain budget.

He reminded delegates that tourism was a £85bn industry, making it the fifth largest in the UK, and that any cuts in VisitBritain’s budget would have an adverse effect in sector’s growth.

VAC is a not-for-profit event which is planned to address topics of industry-wide relevance.

Principal topics selected for this year’s conference were the realities of successful Marketing, and a review of the evolving technologies for presentation, interpretation and visitor management at attractions.