00:00The latest county-level Visit England data shows domestic tourists spent around £1.9 billion in Kent in 2024.
00:07But new figures reveal that domestic tourism in the southeast has actually dropped down 7% since then.
00:13What we've seen in the past year is that coastal tourism has not performed as well as rural tourism and
00:22urban tourism.
00:24You know, so the idea that you can go to the coast, you can have a fantastic coastal walk, you
00:30can spend time by the sea.
00:34So I just think people probably haven't woken up to the possibilities of a coastal trip.
00:40If you're talking about tourism here in Kent, Margate is a difficult one to avoid mentioning.
00:45How is it faring up against the latest tide of foreign holidaymakers and why should Brits pencil in a trip
00:50to Margate into their diary?
00:54Do you want a few bucks for a day trip down to Margate?
00:57I'm gonna blow the lot tomorrow on all my family.
01:00We catch the coach at eight so don't be late.
01:02We're off to sea to sea.
01:04So I'm one of three directors of the Crave Museum.
01:07What we do is we invite the public into our free-to-enter Science Museum to talk about crabs.
01:12If the train service was nationalised, more people would be able to afford to visit the seaside.
01:18The train service as it is, is one of the most expensive in the country for one of the shortest
01:23runs.
01:24Um, that's ridiculous.
01:25You should visit Crab Museum because we are the only place in Kent where you can find out and see
01:30where a crab poos from.
01:33Amazing. Where do they poo from?
01:34They're chests.
01:42My name is BB and I'm the owner of this shop.
01:46Some Influencer Food Influencer visited us and they shared some videos and their videos went really viral.
01:56And, uh, we can't wait for the summer because summer will be crazy, you know.
02:13My name is Jane Bishop and I'm the owner of the Walpole Bay Hotel with my family.
02:17We've seen so many changes.
02:19The whole sort of aspect of British seaside holidays changed in the 70s and 80s and people started to go
02:27abroad.
02:28It's a bee in my bonnet at the moment.
02:30They're talking about taxing all the people that stay for a night.
02:34And it's the wrong thing to do because we'll lose our trade.
02:37We're confident for the future.
02:39Otherwise, we wouldn't do this.
02:40This is a 24-7, 365-day-a-year, you know.
02:45We're here in it for the long haul as well.
02:52Visit England say in order to help out English tourism, locals should consider being a tourist in their own towns.
02:58Chloe Brewster for KMTV in Margate.
03:02Down to market, you can keep the cost of robber.
03:06I'm telling you, mate, a robber ever died down market with all my family.
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