october NEWSLETTER
April 2005
Smoking Submission
The Department of Health's consultation on the Smokefree Elements of the Health Improvement and Protection Bill aims to make almost all enclosed public places and workplaces smokefree. This will have considerable implications for the hospitality and tourism industry. The Tourism Alliance submission supports the ban but urges the Government to ensure that there is a level playing field for all businesses and that the development and implementation of the ban is undertaken in close consultation with the industry.
Click Here for a copy of the Tourism Alliance submission
So much potential, So little information
Following Brigid Simmonds article in The Public Service Review at the beginning of the year on steps the Government could take to support the tourism industry, the Tourism Alliance has been asked to write a follow-up article on the state of tourism statistics. For a £74bn industry with a target of achieving revenue of £100bn by 2010, a major investment in national tourism statistics is urgently required.
The poor state of national tourism statistics was highlighted by the London bombings. Although information was available from individual businesses and components of the tourism industry, there were no national statistics available to determine what the impact the bombings were having on inbound or domestic tourism. Even now, over two months after the second attack of 21 July, national statistics on the impact of the bombings on inbound tourism are just starting to come through and hard information on the impact on domestic tourism will not be available before January 2006 (six months after the event). Most worryingly, statistics on the impact on day visits (which constitute 43% of the tourism industry) may never be available as there is currently no budget set aside to undertake a survey.
A copy of the article will be available on the Tourism Alliance website from 20 October.
The Public Service Review is distributed twice yearly to Government Ministers and their Shadows, MPs, and Senior Civil Servants.
TRIG to be wound up
The Tourism Review and Implementation Group (TRIG), formed by Richard Caborn to assist with the implementation of DCMS’s Tourist Strategy, Tomorrow’s Tourism Today is to be disbanded at the last TRIG meeting on 10 October 2005.
Although the Group has achieved some good results including strong input into ODPM’s Good Practice Guide for Tourism and setting out the future for the Destination Managers’ Handbook, the new Minister feels that the success of the London 2012 bid has changed the tourism policy environment and wants to replace TRIG with a new structure to ensure that the tourism sector gets the maximum benefit out of hosting the Games. He is also keen to establish structures for the discussion of policy issues at regional, sub-regional, and local levels
It is therefore envisaged that TRIG will be replaced by a smaller visitor economy group working closely with the Minister and London 2012 in helping to shape the cross-Government preparations to come.
H.o. workshop on immigration impact
The Home Office is holding a special consultation workshop on the impact of the proposed points-based immigration system on the hospitality/tourism industry on 11 October 2005. The workshop is open to stakeholders and employers and will be held from 9:15am - 1:00pm at The Honourable Society of Grays Inn, Grays Inn Rd, London.
If you or your members would like to attend, either email the Home Office at or phone 0114 259-7503 to confirm a place
Click Here for a copy of the Tourism Alliance briefing on the proposed points-based immigration scheme
impact of london bombings
The latest London accommodation survey results show that revpar for London hotels is down by about 10% over the same period last year. Interestingly, however, while occupancy rates in the city are about 13% down, the average room rate is about 3% above the same period last year. This tends to suggest that, overall, while the number of visitors have fallen as a result of the bombings, the industry believes that this downturn will not last too long and that they have not had to resort to discounting in order to maintain cashflow.
These results tie-in with the Oxford Economic Forecasting research undertaken for TIER Group which predicted that tourism to the UK would be down £750m on what it would have otherwise achieved this year at £13.5bn but will increase by almost 12% to £15.1bn next year. This indicates that there remains a strong latent demand for travel to the UK and that the bombing have not had a long-term affect on perceptions of the UK as a destination.
Of more concern for tourism in London is the domestic market, which is predicted to end the year £550m down on £3.2bn recorded in 2003. The fall in consumer confidence to the annualised lowest level since 1996 suggests that, although there will be some recovery next year, this recover will be slow.
Every Lesson Counts
In November, Ruth Kelly, the DfES Education Secretary will be launching an initiative called Every Lesson Counts to combat the increasing problem of parents taking children out of class during term time in order to take advantage of cheaper holidays.
The initiative, which has been developed with ABTA and FTO, aims to stop parents taking children away during term time by providing discounts on holiday packages during the peak summer season for families who book in advance. Thomas Cook, Kuoni, Virgin, Airtours, Thomson & Skytours and First Choice have signed up to the initiative and the discounted offers will be provided through a special website run by ABTA.
To ensure that domestic tourism operators are not disadvantaged, the England Marketing Division of VisitBritain is now involved in the initiative and will be developing the domestic component of the campaign.
For more information on how your members can be involved in the domestic component of the initiative, contact Laurance Bresh at VisitBritain on 0208 563-3132
Avian flu planning
There is increasing concern about the global spread of Avian Flu in birds. Although outbreaks of the disease have previously been confined to South-East Asia, migratory birds have now spread the disease to Russia and experts predict that it is only a matter of time before the disease spreads to Western Europe and the UK. In response to the threat, the EU recently held a roundtable meeting last to discuss possible prevention measures.
While the major concern is that Avian Flu could mutate into a version of flu that spreads easily between humans, triggering a flu pandemic, one needs to look no further that the2000 FMD outbreak to recognise that there could be a significant impact on the tourism industry if the disease establishes itself in the UK.
The Tourism Alliance is therefore helping VisitBritain in the preparation of a crisis management plan should the disease reach the UK. This plan will be based on two scenarios – the first that avian flu enters the UK and the second, that the disease mutates to a human version. This plan will be distributed to members for comment over the next couple of weeks before being finalised.
The Tourism Alliance
The Tourism Alliance is the Voice of the Tourism Industry.
Established in 2001 with the support of the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, the Tourism Alliance comprises over 40 Tourism Industry Organisations that together represent some 200,000 business of all sizes throughout the UK.
The purpose of the Tourism Alliance is to identify and develop policies and strategies to raise standards and promote quality within the industry and work with and lobby government on all key issues relevant to the growth and development of tourism and its contribution to the economy.
President: Sir Digby Jones
Chairman: Brigid Simmonds
Policy Director: Kurt Janson
Email:
Telephone: 020 7395 8246 Fax: 020 7395 8178 Mobile: 07964428123
Website: www.tourismalliance.com
Tourism Alliance: Centre Point, 103 New Oxford Street, London, WC1A 1DU
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