A NEW tourism minister who knows Blackpool well has been welcomed by the resort's beleaguered holiday trade.

Rossendale MP Janet Anderson was appointed in the government's ministerial reshuffle on Tuesday (July 28).

Blackpool South MP Gordon Marsden said: "I'm delighted a fellow North West MP has been made tourism minister. She's someone I know and get on well with and she has a very good strategic grasp."

Culture secretary Chris Smith has asked for an early meeting with Mr Marsden and Ms Anderson to discuss the government's new tourism strategy, due in the autumn.

Josie Hammond, secretary of the Blackpool Hotel and Guest House Association, said: "It'll be an advantage to have someone with first-hand knowledge of our problems as tourism minister.

"The withdrawal of the Labour conference for two years sent out a message which hurt Blackpool's image, but having an MP like Gordon Marsden who's committed to tourism and a tourism minister who knows about local issues should work to our greater advantage."

Ms Anderson, once an assistant to veteran ex-minister Barbara Castle, is a former government whip.

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