Another week, another bit of bad news relating to jobs in our region.

This time it's Oyster Boats who are feeling the pinch, with 150 Hoveton-based staff given redundancy notices due to the company being on the brink of insolvency.

Regular readers will know this follows hot on the heels of a raft of distressing announcements prior to Christmas, the potential impact of which led this newspaper to write to business minister Greg Clarke, to request information as to what central government are doing about the worrying trend.

Sadly, we await a proper explanation. In the meantime dozens more families are facing up to horrid uncertainty and worry. You can probably guess I'm not particularly impressed by the response we received.

However, amid all the doom and gloom, there is one sector that thankfully continues to go from strength to strength in the region - and that is tourism.

Tonight, myself and my Suffolk colleague Brad Jones, will be presenting the opening speech at the Norfolk and Suffolk Tourism Awards.

In that we will quote figures that show how combined the tourism industry in our two counties is worth just shy of £5bn and responsible for more than 15pc of all employment.

We will talk of the fact that because other areas are struggling, tourism becomes increasingly important as a means of income and something we should not be shy of celebrating or shouting about.

It's wonderful for this region that, at long last, word is spreading far and wide about what a fantastic place this is to visit and just how wide and varied our attractions are.

It's with this in mind we took the decision to get behind the bid for the Broads to be named National Park of the Year in BBC Countryfile's prestigious annual awards.

This is not without controversy, given there is a select group of people out there who do not believe the Broads should be recognised in such a way.

My view is a more simplistic one. If it could further help this region through a tough time - we should all get behind it.

You can vote at visitthebroads.co.uk