LAST Monday, along with some other MSPs, I made the journey to London to meet with politicians from the Brexit Committees of the House of Commons and the London Assembly.

We also met with people from The City UK.

These meetings were aimed at assisting the Scottish Parliament’s European Committee in our Brexit inquiry.

Then last Thursday, we had representatives from Norway and the European Free Trade Area (EFTA) give evidence.

Last week highlighted once again the huge challenge we face and how vital it is that the UK Government provide some clarity on our future.

l Last Wednesday, I attended the Scottish Government’s Cruise Summit.

This was the second such event and it now looks like it will become a regular occurrence.

It was fascinating and showed a huge growth level in the sector so far but also the increased opportunities in the future.

There are over 70 new cruise liners worth over £4 billion on order to deal with this opportunity –  and 17 of these liners will berth over 5000 passengers.

These aren’t just floating palaces, they are floating villages. I wanted to highlight these figures for two reasons.

Firstly, to let you know that cruise tourism isn’t going away anytime soon, and secondly to ask how can we in Inverclyde get an increase for our tourism sector and therefore our economy?

Anyone involved in delivering a tourism offering in Inverclyde should consider the above and think about what they offer, what they do, how they do it and what more should they do to increase their custom.