As the first signs of spring appear – and with the occasional glimpse of sunshine – many of us are finally emerging from winter hibernation and venturing back out into the fresh air.

For parents and grandparents alike, attention is also turning to the Easter holidays and the challenge of keeping children occupied for those long weeks – and perhaps away from too much chocolate.

You may not have noticed, but this week marks English Tourism Week, an opportunity to celebrate and promote the many wonderful attractions in our country.

East Hampshire certainly has plenty to shout about. The district can claim connections to a remarkable list of greats, including Gilbert White, Flora Thompson, Elizabeth Gaskell, Edward Thomas, William Curtis and, of course, Jane Austen. If you go to the ‘Visit Hampshire’ website, you’ll find a range of literary walks across East Hampshire inspired by these authors and poets. A great Easter weekend activity if the weather is kind!

Beyond literature, we are fortunate to have the beautiful South Downs National Park on our doorstep, and wonderful museums, galleries and theatres. Earlier this month I saw the works being done at the Allen Gallery in Alton, which will be an even better local asset when it reopens.

Add to that our many pubs and breweries – and these days vineyards – and it’s clear East Hampshire has a great deal to offer visitors.

Tourism is important to the UK economy, contributing around £147 billion nationally (£2.6 billion is generated in Hampshire). While it’s true that many overseas visits remain heavily focused on London, East Hampshire still attracts visitors from around the world, including Japan, the Netherlands, Germany and – our largest overseas market – the United States.

Events can also give a real boost. Celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth proved a major draw for the area. Jane Austen’s House in Chawton saw a 44 percent increase in visitor numbers in 2025 compared with the previous year, with around half of those visitors coming from elsewhere in the UK.

Alton also hosted the BBC’s The One Show during Regency Week, while contestants competing for the MasterChef title spent three days cooking at Chawton House as part of the celebrations. Both programmes helped shine a national spotlight on our area and its remarkable cultural heritage.

However, there are also big challenges facing tourism – especially on operating costs. Against this backdrop, I have major concerns about proposals for a visitor levy, sometimes known as a tourist tax. This would add a small charge to overnight stays – either a fixed amount per night or a percentage of the room price – for accommodation such as hotels and B&Bs. It remains unclear how other types of accommodation would be treated.

The key question is whether introducing such a levy could discourage visitors at a time when, according to VisitBritain, the UK risks losing its competitive edge globally as tourists choose other European and global destinations.

We also know that hotels, B&Bs and tourist attractions are already dealing with rising costs, including new business rates changes coming into effect next month. There are practical questions too. Who would administer the tax, and how would smaller businesses cope with the additional bureaucracy? And, crucially, how would the money raised actually be spent?

Ultimately, the decision on whether to introduce a visitor levy could fall to the new mayor of Hampshire. But a worry is that the government will likely fund councils on the basis that they could get visitor levy revenue – and that would make it harder to avoid.

I have just secured a backbench debate on this topic in Parliament, as I worry about the potential effect both for the country as a whole, and for our own visitor economy here in East Hampshire.

At a time when the hospitality and tourism sector is already under significant pressure, placing additional financial burdens on it may be the last thing we should be doing.