4
CONFIDENTIAL
TOURA 49 04
TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE TOURISM ALLIANCE BOARD
Minutes of The Tourism Alliance Board Meeting held on Thursday 14th October 2004 at The British Hospitality Association, 55-56 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3BH
In the Chair
Bob Cotton British Hospitality Association
Members
Ian Reynolds Association of British Travel Agents
Robin Broke ALVA
Colin Dawson BALPPA
Stephen Dowd BITOA
Ros Pritchard British Holiday & Home parks Association
Brigid Simmonds Business in Sport and Leisure
Michael Hirst Business Tourism Partnership
Tony Millns English UK
Russell Reefer LGA
Chris Collier Regional Tourist Boards
Sandie Dawe VisitBritain
Ken Robinson Visitor Attractions Forum
Secretariat
Rebecca Sutton-Ward Tourism Alliance
Richard Tobias Tourism Alliance
Apologies
Peter Hampson British Resorts Association
Dr June-Alison Sealy CBI
Sue Piper RDA representative
Agenda Item 1: Chairman’s Introduction/Appointment of Kurt Janson
Bob Cotton (BC) welcomed Board members and Observers to the meeting and announced that Kurt Janson had recently been appointed as the Alliance’s Director of Policy and Administration. Kurt would be joining the Alliance on November 1st and would be a self-employed consultant working four days per week at a fee of £40,000 per annum inclusive. Ian Reynolds (IR) said that while KJ would work four days a week that could increase to five days per week depending on his success in generating subscriptions and new members.
BC said that a Press Release had been issued announcing KJ’s appointment and that Kurt would be visiting each Board Member individually to gain an insight into specific issues. KR requested a copy of KJ’s job description and the Press Release.
Action Point: RSW to send KR KJ’s job description and Press Release.
Agenda Item 2: Finances
IR said that TA members who pay a £5,000 annual subscription had all been invoiced for 2005 but there would be a shortfall in October this year of £1,500 to meet payroll commitments. BC confirmed that he had transferred £5,000 from the BHA account to the TA account to cover the shortfall but said that it was imperative that the TA become financially stable as soon as possible. Richard Tobias (RT) said he was in discussions with ILAM to secure their membership. Brigid Simmons (BS) said she would be pleased to speak to their chairman who she knew well.
Agenda Item 3: Tourism Conference
RT said that the Tourism Conference was a DCMS initiative led by the Tourism Minister, Richard Caborn, and was to be a jointly sponsored event with VisitBritain, DCMS and the TA as co-partners.
It would be the annual showcase for the whole of the tourism industry and that March 16th 2005 had been identified as the date for the first conference. The conference would be held at the QE11 centre in London and one of the objectives would be the attendance of the PM or Chancellor. Sandie Dawe (SD) pointed out that the primary objective of the conference was to celebrate the importance of the tourism industry. KR and BC said that it was very important that the conference had good content.
KR raised the question as to whether the other two partners, VB and DCMS, were aware of the TA’s current financial position. RT said that the TA would not be underwriting any cost and there was no financial risk to the TA. BC said that while in the first year there would be no revenue generating opportunities for the TA, he hoped that the conference would provide the TA with revenue generating opportunities in the second year. KR said the conference needed to have big messages and IR pointed out that he hoped the format would include an expert on consumer trends. Tony Millns (TM) said the conference should be about growing tourism.
Agenda Item 4: Representation
BC said that to date RT had represented the TA on various industry bodies and that the Board needed to discuss who would take his place when RT stood down at the end of the year. BC identified those bodies as TRIG, the Tourism Conference and People 1st (The Sector Skills Council).
Tourism Conference
BC suggested that Michael Hirst (MH) should represent the TA on the Tourism Conference working group. However, MH said he would not be in the UK on March 16th as there was a conference for senior hoteliers in Berlin on the same day.
Robin Broke (RB) believed that the chairperson should be on the working group and after discussion it was agreed that Brigid Simmonds would represent the TA, with the assistance of a small working group consisting of MH, KR, TM and Stephen Dowd (SD).
Ros Pritchard (RP) asked why the working party were aiming for around 300 delegates. RT said that while there was no absolute cap on numbers, the target audience was envisaged to be senior industry representatives and others. MH pointed out that the conference was unlikely to attract less senior employees. BC said that in Scotland BHA alternate the style of their conference each year so that one year there were more senior personnel while the following year it would be a ‘bigger bash’ to include a wider industry audience. SD said that Neil Stewart Associates had been appointed PCO for the event and that they would be researching content. BS said she would hold a meeting with her working group prior to the next TA meeting (19th November).
Actions: BS to attend the next TC meeting with VB and DCMS on Friday 22nd October
BS to arrange a meeting between herself and MH, KR, TM and SD.
TRIG
BC said it was important to have a TA representative at both the TRIG meetings and at People 1st and after discussion it was agreed that Ian Reynolds would represent the TA at TRIG meetings subject to DCMS agreement (agreement has now been given by DCMS.) Ken Robinson would be the alternate in IR’s place.
People 1st
RT said that the structure of People 1st was that of a Board governed by Trustees and that it had been quite difficult to secure a place for the TA when People 1st had been formed. For that reason a nomination for the TA needed to be submitted to the Trustees of People 1st. BC said that the board was employer led and that the TA needed to be mindful of the sensitivity of the position. After discussion it was agreed that Chris Collier’s name should be put forward as a Trustee on behalf of the TA.
Action: RT to write to People 1st with the view that CC should be put forward to act as a Trustee.
DCMS MONTHLY MEETINGS
The Board agreed that the incoming chairperson (BS) together with KJ should attend joint DCMS/TA monthly meetings. If BS was unable to attend any particular meeting another Board member should accompany KJ.
Agenda Item 5: Current Lobbying Issues
BC tabled a list of current BHA lobbying issues and suggested that KJ could create something similar for TA members to work to. All members felt this to be a good idea with MH emphasising that the TA had published a set of key priorities in the recently published annual report and that these should form the core of lobbying activities. IR and RB both suggested that the TA prepare a pre budget news release identifying priorities and that the release should be circulated to all TA members.
Agenda Item 6: Recruiting Members
RB said that the TA needed to communicate more with members and that the Board needed to identify which organisations had not yet joined the Alliance, with a view to targeting those organisations. RB was concerned that existing members may not continue membership in 2005. RT said that there was no indication that existing members would not renew in 2005. It was proposed that Board members take on collective responsibility for enhancing membership particularly where the decision-maker was known to a TA Board member.
IR said that the target number of members for 2004 was 63 members generating £108K in subscriptions. Currently there were 37 members. KR said a monthly TA communication to members and potential members would be a ‘quick win’ for the TA. Colin Dawson (CD) said that regular communication was of more use than TA plenary sessions. IR suggested that the Tourism Conference should offer a lower conference rate to TA members to encourage TA membership - thus helping to secure their subscription.
Actions: RSW to circulate a target list of potential members to the TA Board. RT to contact the Board after 7 days to identify whether the Board member can make contact with a target organisation. RSW to circulate the communications strategy to board members and observers
Agenda Item 7: TA Ministerial Breakfast
MH said that the TA should identify two or three messages only to convey to the Minister at the TA breakfast to be held on 2nd November and that individual organisations should be discouraged from speaking solely about their own sector specific agenda. RT said that BC would open the breakfast debate, identify the issues to be discussed and would then open the floor for discussion. IR commented that it was important that the Minister enjoyed the meeting.
Actions: RT to produce a one page briefing to the breakfast meeting attendees identifying the issues to be discussed.
Date of next Board meeting: Friday 19th November at 8.30am at BHA offices.
ends
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