After being handed the Olympic flag he tormented the nation by precariously waving it in such a way that it all might end in tears. It didn’t, and that symbolic handover shifted that rare and much coveted Olympic limelight to London – giving us the responsibility to entertain the world in the summer of 2012.

Thanks to the incredible work of Seb Coe and his team, plans for sporting events are on or ahead of schedule. But with the international spotlight not just on sport, but on Britain, its people, its culture and heritage, this is a once-in-a-generation marketing opportunity to promote our country in a way we have never done before.

This is why I organised an Olympic tourism roundtable meeting in Parliament last week. It brought together former Olympic athlete and now London Olympic Committee member Jonathan Edwards, plus representatives from Visit London, VisitEngland and VisitBritain. The discussion centred around ways members of the tourism industry as well as local council representatives from across the country could get involved in this terrific event.

For example, there is nothing to stop Bournemouth inviting beach volleyball teams to train on its beaches in the run-up to the games, or Bolton assembling deckchairs in their town square in front of a large screen to beam those same BBC images already earmarked for the big screen in Regent’s Park, or Bath placing an irresistible bid to LOCOG to be included in the Olympic torch relay.

With less than 900 days to go before Boris waves that flag again (granted, there is a general election in between!) councils, hospitality and tourism organisations, even MPs and PPCs, need to start making plans soon if the full tourism potential of these games is to be realised.

It is clear the 2012 Olympics are not just for London but the whole country – but only if we all seize the initiative.

Yet were anyone to visit today, as I did, you would quickly appreciate that those striking images are already out of date. Thanks to the resilience and determination of the local communities combined with that very British trait of muscling together in the most adverse of challenges almost all the shops have reopened, hotels are back in business and the roads and transport infrastructure, other than a couple of exceptions, are completely back to normal.

Sadly though, the cameras have all departed and the media teams moved on. Yet the nation’s perception remains that the Lake District is still underwater. The floods in Cumbria were national news, but the success of the cleanup operation is not. Until those images are replaced with a more positive message tourism in Cumbria will continue to be adversely affected.

This is why the Prime Minister must honour his commitment to support Cumbria in its hour of need. This does not just mean sending in the Army to build a Bailey Bridge, but providing vital funds to promote the Lake District and prevent cancellations to bookings which could easily cost the local economy more than the damage from the actual floods.

The importance of tourism to the area cannot be overstated. Listed by the Lonely Planet guide as the ‘tenth MUST SEE’ places to visit, the Lake District is Britain’s favourite National Park, with over 15m visitors a year it generates over £1bn for the economy.

This is Cumbria’s hour of need and Government must help in communicating the message: It is very much open for business.

Tobias returned to launch a full day Tourism Summit made up of a number of key local stakeholders who help put Cheltenham on the regional and national map. The task of the day was to ask ourselves, is it clear who we are, where we are going and how we maximise the opportunities for our town in attracting visitors?

My own view is that we offer a fabulous array of attractions; we are a Festival town, renowned for our racecourse (Gold Cup!), our shopping, our parks and gardens, our museums and education provision. We pride ourselves as the centre for the Cotswolds; we are the most complete Regency town in England.

But with so many messages and a proliferation of attractions, we thought the time had come for some clarity on ‘brand’; Tobias’s third visit to Cheltenham this year acted as a catalyst for this to happen.

And we are not helped by the framework of regional development agencies that concentrate on developing loyalties and focus on arbitrary regions – we are part of the ‘South West’, but it is hardly a brand! Tobias spoke with some force about the need to dismantle the current structures and elevate ‘Visit England’ as the right vehicle for tourist opportunity.

My Cheltenham Conservative Business Forum working in partnership with Media Eden in Cheltenham and Mark Radda consultancy from Cambridge put this today together – and representatives from major stakeholders in the town gave a working day to forge a new agenda; the Chamber of Commerce, Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham Borough Council and Tourist Office, Gloucestershire Media, Cheltenham Hospitality Association, Holst Birthplace Museum, Gloucestershire College, Business Link and Cheltenham Festivals.

I hope this initiative will create the momentum for clarity and change, and liberate a group of people who want to work for the benefit of the town to model something for other parts of England, where they are lucky to have some of the attractions we enjoy.

Britain’s tourism offering is unique and one of the best in the world. Our heritage, culture, history and landscapes compete internationally along with our cultural and sporting events, entertainments and attractions. These together make Britain the sixth most popular tourism destination in the world.

This has been in spite of Government – not because of it. Latterly, confusing infrastructures, conflicting regional agendas and a basic failure of local and national government to appreciate the benefits of supporting tourism has denied the £90bn industry a chance to meet its full potential.

The taskforce report (which will be available online on the Shadow DCMS website) contains over 50 recommendations which include improved co-ordination of regional tourism responsibilities through an empowered Visit England and establishing the post of Tourism Minister who is able to influence policy developed in other government departments which might have an impact on the tourism industry.

A huge thank you should be given to John Lewis, Chairman of the Tourism Taskforce, and his team for completing the report. All the recommendations will be considered and help to develop the Party’s tourism election manifesto.

There are around 200,000 small and medium sized businesses that form the backbone to British tourism. They want Government to take tourism seriously. It’s hoped that the success of our first tourism fringe meeting, along with our taskforce report, will be a welcome step in the right direction.

In Great Yarmouth tourism brings around £400,000,000 into the economy and is the largest employer and the largest industry in Norfolk.

Tourism is the 5th largest industry in the UK and we are the 6th most visited country in the world, which is an amazing fact to bear in mind.

It was good to hear Tobias outline that the Conservatives, via the localism agenda, are looking to move more powers to the local authorities to work with the tourism industry and motivate them to help and support tourism.

Then funding that currently gets filtered through a whole range of bodies including RDA’s will be given directly to the industry that needs it. Local councils will have more powers to protect, develop and support tourism.

At a time when more people are looking to holiday in the UK and when 80% of tourism is internal we must bear in mind that we have much work to do to ensure we promote ourselves properly with a joined up and realistic approach.

This means asking ourselves tough questions about what our branding should be and who we should be working with to ensure our areas are well promoted and represented. In Great Yarmouth we are already working hard to that cause and are looking forward to the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

I packed a punishing itinerary for Tobias – including meeting hoteliers from Cheltenham’s Hospitality Association, the Tourist Information Centre, Cheltenham Festivals Office, the Art Gallery & Museum and the Gustav Holst Birthplace Museum. But at least he was able to see that Cheltenham has tourist offerings that would be the envy of many towns and cities in England.

One of his key messages is that the Regional Development Agency has been an ineffective vehicle for helping tourism across the South West, and there is a strong case for its powers and funding to be devolved down.

Most of all from the visit, Tobias has offered to help lead a mini tourist summit here in the autumn, and that will help us locally discuss an even more dynamic, joined-up strategy for our tourism branding.

This is, however, despite the Labour Government, not because of it. Our share of international tourism has declined by 10 per cent since Labour came to power.

If this was not bad enough, the infra-structure to support and promote British tourism is a confused, overlapping, competing and costly group of QUANGOs; a result of 4 nations, 9 regions, 70 counties and over 300 local authorities following often quite separate agendas. The absence of any co-ordinated approach is reflected in the fact that there are six different UK offices in Boston, Massachusetts promoting different parts of Britain.

In Parliament itself, the tourism industry has no champion promoting its interests or fighting its corner. There is no dedicated Tourism Minister or annual debate on the subject. Yes, some tourism issues are covered by Department of Culture, Media and Sport but in reality, the smallest department in Government has little influence over some of the major decisions affecting the industry. For example burdensome B&B fire regulations were introduced by the Dept for Communities and Local Government, and the Home Office doubled the cost of UK visas doubled last year without any consultation with the DCMS.

The state of our tourism industry is summed up in Visit Britain’s latest report which says “Tourism is the hidden giant in the British economy. Without government support this industry will continue to punch below its weight.”  Rather than just passing comment, Gordon Brown must wake up to the significance and potential of tourism.

For me such deliberations would have to wait, for as a member of the Shadow Department of Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) team it was our day at the Dispatch Box and to hold the Ministers to account.

Questions to Ministers must normally be submitted in advance, selected at random by the clerk’s office and produced on the official Order Paper. The questions that come up can therefore be very varied indeed. As Shadow Ministers we can only ask supplementary questions and so must tag on the back of another MP’s submitted question.

However comfortable you may be with public speaking, to address the House from the Dispatch Box always gets the butterflies going. A mere hesitation or fumble and the opposition will pounce without mercy and ruin your moment, so preparation and delivery is all.

As soon as the questions were confirmed for the day just one covered my responsibility of tourism: No. 5, submitted by the less than shy Labour MP Andrew Macklinlay who wanted to know how more Britons might be encouraged to holiday in the UK rather than abroad. For me this was ideal. I had recently learnt that some seaside councils were disbanding their tourism departments and using the savings to chase local government targets for which they are then financially rewarded. Clearly not the best way a to support our tourism industry.

The work then began in earnest. I checked the facts, wrote the script, tightened the language, rehearsed the words and refined the delivery. I was ready. At 2.30pm The Speaker began DCMS questions as usual and all was going well for my big moment. He finally said “Question Number 5, Andrew Mackinlay.  Andrew Mackinlay? Not here? Onto Question No. 6.” And just like that my moment had gone!