Now is the time for our city to pitch for visitors

In some ways it may seem premature to be hailing the launch of a tourism campaign given that at the moment we are only allowed out of house for exercise and a limited number of essential reasons. However, our praise today for the new scheme Portsmouth,

Put The Wind in Your Sails isn’t (just) attributable to a desire to daydream about holidays, warm weather and days out again.

In fact, the need to daydream is precisely why this campaign is necessary; now is the time that people are thinking of things to look forward to, are hoping to see a firm schedule to ending lockdown announced today by the Prime Minister, and are beginning to take tentative steps to book what will likely be the first break for more than a year.

For sure, Portsmouth is not an unknown quantity when it comes to tourism. We at The News reiterate it time and again, but it is true: the combination of history at the dockyard, open space on the common, beaches that do not see as many visitors as others along the south coast – and are all the better for it – plus beautiful countryside ‘over the hill’ means that we have plenty to offer those visiting for the weekend. The city is the 20th most visited in the UK – obviously we'd love to welcome more people, and perhaps we will if plans to accelerate the cruise industry succeed, but you cannot sniff at hundreds of thousands of visitors in a normal year, nor that almost one in eight jobs in Portsmouth are supported by tourism.

So, after a nightmare 12 months for all those connected to the visitor economy – whether international-level attractions in the dockyard or individual hotels – we hope to see recovery. For sure, things will take time. Covid measures will stay with us and will inevitably restrict numbers, and in general reticence from the public to go anywhere will be understandable. But let's hope we will capitalise when the world begins to return to normal.