Councillors admitted a tourism strategy may have to take a back seat as they prioritise public resources under mounting financial pressure.
Presenting a tourism scrutiny review to North East Derbyshire District Council’s Cabinet, member for economy Councillor Jeremy Kenyon commented that tourism services are ‘non statutory’, meaning the authority is under no obligation to provide them.
“As such it has to be somewhat more flexibly resourced, shall we say, and we’ve had one crisis after another,” he said.
“We’re now in the middle of a cost of living crisis, so there is an element of doing what we can rather than doing everything that is suggested.”
Among the recommendations of the review, it called for a clear brand for tourism, the identification of key assets, help for the expansion of local businesses supporting tourism, a plan to promote attractions and a set of performance indicators to measure the impact of tourism within the district.
Councillor Carolyn Renwick said: “It’s probably the worst time ever for that industry and hopefully when that gets back on track reviewing some of these points will certainly help us in terms of guiding that through the next course.”
