Tourism Alliance Board Meeting

1

CONFIDENTIAL

Tourism Alliance Board Meeting

Friday 19th November 2004

Minutes of Meeting

In the Chair

Bob Cotton British Hospitality Association

Members

Ian Reynolds Association of British Travel Agents

Robin BrokeALVA

Brigid SimmondsBusiness in Sport and Leisure

Michael HirstBusiness Tourism Partnership

Tony Millns English UK

Chris CollierRegional Tourist Boards

Ken RobinsonVisitor Attractions Forum

Observers

Dr June-Alison SealyCBI

Sandie DaweVisitBritain

Russell ReeferLGA

Huw JarvisRDA Representative

Secretariat

Kurt JansonTourism Alliance

Rebecca Sutton-WardTourism Alliance

Richard TobiasTourism Alliance

Apologies

Rob HaywardBritish Beer and Pub Association *

Ros Pritchard British Holiday & Home Parks Association

Colin DawsonBALPPA

Stephen Dowd UK Inbound

Peter HampsonBritish Resorts Association

* Observer

Agenda Item 1: Introduction and Matters Arising

Bob Cotton (BC) welcomed Board members and Observers to the meeting. BC reported that he had met with Simon Turl and Brian Wisdom at People 1st. People 1st are currently reforming the Board of Trustees to accommodate more Trustees from the commercial sector. For this reason they have taken the view that when Richard Tobias stands down at the end of the year as a People 1st Trustee they will not be inviting the TA to nominate a replacement.

Action: No action arising

Agenda Item 2: Membership and Finance

Finance - Tony Millns (TM) said that providing existing members remained members of the Alliance and maintained their current funding commitments, the Alliance would remain financially viable until the end of 2005. Currently, approximately £20K of 2005 subscription income had been received. It would an objective in 2005 to encourage more organisations to join the Alliance thereby strengthening the Alliance’s financial stability.

Membership – Richard Tobias (RT) reminded the Board that the original members of the Tourism Alliance (the Executive Group) had decided that only non-commercial organisations should be members of the Alliance and that commercial companies should be represented by trade associations. RT suggested that the Board may wish to review this position at some time. Brigid Simmonds (BS) suggested Kurt Janson (KJ) prepare a synopsis of what the TA does, that a copy be sent to all Board members and that ultimately it should be used as a sales tool with prospective new members. Chris Collier (CC) emphasised that the Alliance should be as inclusive as possible.

Actions: 1.KJ to create a list of DMO’s and prepare a sales aid as outlined above

1. BC to speak to Nick Bish and Danny Homan regarding membership of the Alliance
2. RT to speak to Harvey Bailey regarding ILAM’s membership.
3. KR to speak to Howard Pridding regarding membership.
4. All Board members to let KJ know of any prospective members the TA should approach.

Agenda Item 3: UK Tourism Conference

BS said that VisitBritain, DCMS and the TA were the key partners for this event, emphasising that the TA was an equal partner although it would not be carrying any financial risk. The date of the conference is 16th March 2005. BS had raised with the PCO, Neil Stewart Associates, the cost of attending the conference and had secured from NSA an agreement that there would be an ‘early bird’ discount for delegates of £280.

BS said that Digby Jones and Lord Marshall were both confirmed as speakers at the event and that Richard Caborn had put a request into the Chancellor to also attend. Michael Hirst (MH) said that the working title was not as good as the title proposed by KJ. RT said that the Alliance should be aware that DCMS saw the conference as a government platform and were quite adamant that issues of this nature should be ones that fell within their remit.

MH said that the conference needed to address issues that catered for the wide ranging audience the conference was targeting. BS suggested that if Board members had specific issues they felt were appropriate for the conference they should contact her as soon as possible. BC said that the Alliance needed to be mindful of the potential audience and there needed to be something for everyone at the conference.

Ken Robinson (KR) suggested that the conference should have a wash-up session at the end of the breakout sessions and possibly a reception to mark the closing of the event.

Actions: 1.BS to further develop the conference programme taking account of the Boards views on broad appeal and the incorporation of a wash-up session.

Agenda Item 4: Communications

KJ presented a revised Communications strategy paper and requested Board members feed back comments at the next meeting.

KJ said that he would be upgrading the TA website, tailoring email output to specific visitors. A further objective would be to raise awareness of the TA to a target audience. KJ was updating the contacts database.

The draft newsletter, previously circulated to the Board, was discussed. KR said that he felt that the previous newsletter was more readable and that the newsletter should highlight the key issues that the TA was addressing. However, consideration should be given to any information that was not in the public domain or was considered confidential. The newsletter would be, from December 2004, a monthly communication.

BC said that the TA’s remit was as a common voice for the industry and to lobby government. The TA, therefore, should concentrate issues that transcend the tourism industry, raising broad tourism issues.

The TA draft letter to Gordon Brown, tabled at the meeting, was with Digby Jones for approval. KR was concerned that the letter was not upbeat enough. The Board decided that the letter should not be sent to the Chancellor until after the pre-budget statement at the beginning of December.

Chris Collier (CC) said that the VAT threshold was a very important issue for many smaller bed and breakfast providers and that the threshold either needed to be significantly reduced or significantly increased.

Actions: 1.Members to feed back comments on the revised Communication Strategy to KJ before the next meeting.

1. KJ to amend and distribute Newsletter.
2. KJ to recall letter from Digby to Gordon Brown and resend it after the pre-budget anouncement.

Agenda Item 5: Approval Systems

Finance – It was agreed that KJ be authorised to incur expenditure of up to £500 on behalf of the TA without prior agreement from the Board, subject to proper accounting procedures.

Communications – BC said that KJ will, from time to time, be asked the TA’s opinion on certain matters - and sometimes at very short notice. It was agreed that as and when this occurred KJ will try and get feedback from members on the issue he is being asked to comment on. However, if this is not possible he will give a response based on his own knowledge. SD highlighted that KJ would need to be brought up to speed on the TIER communication strategy in case of a tourism-related crisis.

Action: 1.Sandie Dawe (SD) to brief KJ on TIER crisis communications

Agenda Item 6: Meeting with the Tourism Minister

BC said that the TA breakfast meeting with Richard Caborn on November 2nd had went well. The Board requested that KJ have detailed feedback on the actions raised with DCMS by the next Board meeting. BC said that the TA should be planning the next Ministerial breakfast for the end of February 2005. MH said that the TA should hold additional ministerial breakfasts on specific issues - with the minister responsible for that issue (eg. planning or transport) in attendance.

Action: 1.KJ to liaise with DCMS officials to ensure that the agreed action points are undertaken and to report back to the next Board meeting.

Agenda Item 7: Policy Issues Update

1)Smoking

BS believes the view from most in the industry is a national ban. BC said that Richard Caborn spoke with John Reid after the 2nd November ministerial breakfast and, as a result, the Health Secretary did not devolve decision making to local authorities, the position BHA had campaigned for.

2)Gambling and Gaming

BS reported back on the current status of the Gaming Bill highlighting the news that the Government will now limit mega-casinos to 8 when previously there had been talk of up to 40 such casinos being opened. A discussion ensured on whether the Tourism Alliance should have a stance on gambling and it was agreed that the TA role would be to inform the industry on the Bill.

Action: BSto send an information sheet to KJ regarding BISL’s position

3)Planning

BS produced a two-page briefing paper that was circulated to Board members for information.

4)Minimum Wage

BC said that the BHA and BISL took a different view to that expressed by the CBI. BC said that both organisations felt that increases of up to 4% during the next round of adjustments would be acceptable. BC also said that he hoped that the working time opt-out clause be kept in place although it was accepted that this clause could not be linked to a condition of employment contract.

Any Other Business

BC said that he would be standing down as chairman of the Board at the end of December and that Brigid Simmonds would take the chair from January. Richard Tobias would also be standing down as director-general in December and BC thanked him and Rebecca Sutton-Ward (who leaves the TA’s employ in November) for the work that both had done on behalf of the Alliance. CC thanked BC for the work he had done on behalf on the Alliance

Date of next Board meeting: Thursday 13th January at 8.30am at BHA offices.

M