APPENDIX 7
Memorandum submitted by the National Trust
TOURISM AFTER SEPTEMBER 11
INTRODUCTION AND
SUMMARY
The National Trust welcomes the opportunity
to contribute to the Committee's inquiry into the future of tourism.
It comes at an important moment in the development of our understanding
of the nature and importance of the tourism industry. The recent
and very different impacts of Foot and Mouth and September 11
have demonstrated both the importance of the industry and the
lack of a clear or comprehensive policy context for its development.
It has also highlighted a lack of shared understanding over what
constitutes "tourism" which is confusing policy development
and public debate.
The Trust's contribution to the inquiry draws
on our role as owner, manager and landlord of an extensive portfolio
of properties and landholdings across England, Wales and Northern
Ireland with extensive public access. We seek to integrate our
conservation responsibilities with the management of a major business
turning over £250 million each year. We welcome nearly 12
million visitors to our pay-for-entry properties and an estimated
50 million visits to our coast and countryside properties each
year. These visitors engage in over 40 different types of outdoor
activity. The Trust is responsible for over 245,000 hectares of
land, 600 miles of coastline and 300 historic houses and gardens.
Access and enjoyment are part of the Trust's fundamental founding
principles and we work to promote these in a manner which respects
and enhances the underlying resources and brings benefit to local
communities in both town and country. In this work we regularly
face up to and address the potential conflict between business
and conservation interests that are visible elsewhere and this
experience may be particularly useful to the Committee. A number
of examples of the Trust's work are provided in the Annex to this
evidence.
Our evidence identifies a number of major considerations
for the Committee's attention. Primary among these is the need
to address the widespread confusion over the nature and scope
of the "tourism industry" and to forge a new and very
different approach, which focuses on the wider economic, social
and environmental contribution, which a new approach to tourism
based on "place" can bring.
We encourage the Committee to:
— Agree to the need to redefine and
refocus tourism as "business based on place" rather
than major attractions, infrastructure and international markets—emphasising
the potential contribution to sustainable regeneration and development
in both urban and rural areas and its dependence on a high quality
environment and maintaining and enhancing local and regional character
and distinctiveness.
— Recognise the contribution to be
made to government PSA targets for more balanced regional development
and raising productivity levels in the least well performing rural
areas through this approach and the need for a target to reduce
the £13.2 billion tourism balance of payments deficit.
There is a need to address the barriers to growth
of this new conception of the industry by examining the following
areas:
What is being promoted?
— The benefits of placing a greater
emphasis on domestic tourism, rather than attracting international
visitors.
— Promoting "sustainable tourism"
(see Annex) based on:
— Supporting local economies through
the recognition and promotion of tourism-based business clusters.
— Promote the different environmental,
social and cultural resources that make up local regional character
and distinctiveness.
— Involve all interest groups in securing
improvements to natural and built environment, thus developing
a sense of ownership and responsibility for resources.
— Minimise the impacts of tourism both
in terms of access to destinations and through the provision of
sustainable facilities.
— Developing social capital by ensuring
that tourism in properly integrated into the local economy, and
benefits local people.
— Expanding and developing public access
to the natural environment.
— Develop education and understanding
as a key element of tourism, not just in terms of history, but
also environment and sustainability.
Who is responsible for promoting it?
— Review existing institutional structures
of support to strengthen the role of the English Tourism Council
in championing the tourism sector as well as research and marketing,
better support and network Tourist Information Centres and integrate
tourism into place-based economic and regeneration strategies
by Regional Development Agencies.
— Work with Regional Development Agencies
to support the development of sub-regional tourism related business
clusters.
What policies are required for more effective
tourism promotion?
— Assess the relationship between transport
policies, especially those relating to air travel and their effect
on the state of domestic tourism.
— Improve the accessibility of tourism
resources by a range of transport modes, harnessing the opportunity
for travel to be part of the experience, including through new
guidance on the role of Local Transport Plans. This will require
the effective involvement of the English Tourism Council and the
relevant Regional Development Agency.
— Develop new methods of interpreting
the economic importance of the tourism industry. These should
concentrate on capturing the economic worth of micro-businesses
such as bed and breakfast and other local services on which the
industry depends.
— Strengthen the importance of sense
of place and local and regional character and distinctiveness
as a social and economic asset in national planning policy guidance
notes (for instance PPG 17 and PPG 21). This should feature strongly
in the review of PPGs announced in the Planning Green Paper.
— Incentivise schemes that re-invest
income in environmental improvement and supporting visitor pay-back
schemes (such as the voluntary payment scheme being pioneered
in the Lake District).
— Providing more skills and careership
programmes, with an initial emphasis on hospitality.
The remainder of our evidence is structured
broadly along the lines of questioning identified by the inquiry.
FUTURE PERFORMANCE
OF TOURISM
The contribution of tourism to the nation is
increasingly recognised, and was brought to a head by the Foot
and Mouth crisis and the terrorism attacks in the US. ETC's research
shows that tourism's recovery from the combined effects of Foot
and Mouth and September 11 is continuing, but remains "fragile".
ETC reports that an encouraging 68 per cent of businesses say
they have now recovered from both September 11 and Foot and Mouth,
but the number who do not expect to recover until 2003 has increased
from 10 per cent to nearly a quarter (23 per cent).
The Government's official figures put tourism
losses as a result of Foot and Mouth at £3.3 billion and
the Trust alone lost over £4.5 million due to extra costs
and a decline in visitor numbers. The crisis has done more than
anything to demonstrate how farming interrelates with tourism
in both urban and rural areas and is dependent on a healthy and
accessible countryside. It has stimulated recognition of the need
for a much deeper understanding of the connection between farming,
landscapes, the health of the nation and the economic benefits
of caring for high-quality natural and built environments.
There is growing interest in the interdependence
of tourism on a high quality environment but this could prove
fragile and needs support. The fact that a high quality environment
is vital for attracting visitors and for its significant contribution
to the economy, creating jobs, stimulating urban and rural regeneration,
supporting education and lifelong learning, helping rural businesses
and providing attractive places where new businesses can thrive
is still not widely understood. The focus of much of the tourism
debate remains on large scale visitor attractions, infrastructure
and the international market while much economic and regional
policy does not take sufficient account of the importance of locally
based, endogenous industry or recognise the competitive advantage
of local and regional character in building sustainable and successful
businesses.
The Trust has demonstrated the importance of
the links through our multi-partner Valuing our Environment
studies covering the North East, Wales, Cumbria and the South
West. These demonstrate the critical link between the quality
of the environment and the future economic sustainability of communities.
The research revealed that 40 per cent of the jobs created through
tourism rely directly on a high-quality environment and this rises
to 60 to 70 per cent in rural areas. Trust activities alone in
these four areas generate between five and nine additional full
time jobs for every person (Full Time Equivalent) directly employed
by the Trust. In total, the high quality of the natural and built
environment generates just over 137,000 full time jobs (FTEs)
in these areas. The great majority of these are jobs in the local
area. In Cumbria alone tourism contributed over £800 million
to the economy in 2000, and in the North East the quality of the
environment has generated an estimated 38,000 jobs.
WHAT IS
THE ROLE
OF GOVERNMENT?
The Government has a significant role to play
in the development of, and support for, the tourism industry.
We would encourage the Committee to address its role in facilitating
a new understanding of the contribution of tourism at a local
level in sustainable regeneration and development.
The Government can help achieve this through:
(a) Strengthened institutional structures—we
have identified a number of ways in which the institutional structures
supporting the industry can be shaped for the better:
DCMS—It is a stark fact that, following
Spending Review 2002, the importance of the historic environment
is still absent from the aims, objectives and PSA targets for
DCMS. This is despite its importance to the Department's own tourism
responsibilities and its centrality to external promotion of the
UK overseas. The Department could provide a stronger lead on tourism
that addresses the need to refocus attention on the domestic market
and the development of a more "place-based" approach
that is better integrated. The Government should support development
of appropriate national, regional and local indicators and targets
and production of an annual progess report for wide public debate.
The profile of the historic and natural environment in economic
and social policy also needs to be raised more widely.
English Tourism Council—The ETC
needs to be re-invigorated and given a stronger marketing role
that focuses on developing the domestic asset. England has long
lacked a strong national marketing voice equivalent to that provided
for Wales and Scotland and the move to address this is widely
supported. The development of the marketing role for ETC should
not be at the expense of the delivery of other functions. There
is a need for a strong, national champion for tourism in England
combining the functions of policy development, strategic planning,
research, data collection and quality standards, as well as the
much needed roles of marketing and promotion. These functions
are all mutually interdependent and there is a clear need for
a national tourist board for England—as in the other home
countries—performing these roles. This cannot be provided
simply by pooling the work of regional agencies as some are currently
proposing. This would seriously fragment the voice.
Local infrastructure—There is a
need for major investment in developing the local infrastructure
of support as part of a shift towards domestic tourism. Early
opportunities include better and more integrated tourist information
centres so it is possible to share information across the country,
better use of DEFRA's national access database, and a focus on
increasing accessibility by different transport modes in Local
Transport Plans. The importance of the myriad micro-businesses
and the networks of relationships between them that underpin the
sector also need to be better understood and valued. One way is
to provide better support for sub-regional groupings like the
Kent Tourism Alliance (which has over 10,000 members compared
to just 2,000 for the whole of the region in the SE Tourist Board)
Regional Development Agencies—The
expected integration of Regional Tourist Boards and the RDAs provides
an important opportunity to forge a new approach to tourism which
should be backed up in government guidance and targets for RDAs.
We would encourage the integration of tourism considerations into
wider place-based economic and regeneration strategies rather
than the development of separate sectoral tourism policies and
strategies. The emphasis should also be on supporting and strengthening
existing businesses and not promoting new ones. RDAs should also
strengthen the approach to providing business advice that is crucial
to the success of small rural businesses. A first-stop shop for
regional grants advice would make it easier for tourism businesses
to access vital funding, plan strategically and improve the quality
of their product.
England Rural Development Plan—The
future approach to tourism is central to the development of the
Government's wider policy agenda for a sustainable countryside.
There is a need for stronger integration of existing funding measures,
such as the ERDP and structural funds to support the multiple
objectives of sustainable rural development. Policy design and
delivery is currently too narrow, rooted in farming and not facilitating
the reintegration of farming within the wider economy of rural
areas
(b) Setting a target to reduce the tourism
balance of payments deficit—The balance of payments
(the spending by UK and overseas tourists in England less the
spending by English tourists overseas) has moved from a £3.2
billion credit in 1990 to nearly a £1 billion deficit in
1995 and a £13.2 billion deficit by 2001 (English Tourism
Council. Source International Passenger Survey/UK Tourism Survey).
Addressing this is not to suggest an embargo on international
travel but to emphasise the benefits to be gained from a new and
concerted focus on boosting the domestic tourism market—making
what people have on their doorsteps much more appealing (both
through marketing and good product development). This is a critical
debate in view of the current review of aviation and growing recognition
of the detrimental environmental and other impacts associated
with rapid growth in air travel. The future of tourism does not
depend on meeting projected demands for long distance air transport.
These trends can be influenced by the Government and other policy
choices about the development of the tourism sector.
(c) Better protection of the asset—The
Government needs to recognise that the current rate of loss and
damage to the historic and natural environment is unsustainable
and to back this by a firm commitment to stronger protection which
will bring economic and social benefits as well as environmental
ones. The forthcoming reviews of national planning guidance and
aviation policy provide opportunities to demonstrate commitment
in this area.
(d) Addressing skills—The tourism
sector has a poor reputation as an employer and faces growing
problems in finding suitable staff and guaranteeing quality. There
is a need to provide a clearer focus in training and careership,
bringing people into the industry, providing opportunities, supporting
them and developing their careers. The Trust has considerably
experience in developing skills in gardening and land management
that demonstrates significant latent demand where the right kind
of support is provided. We would identify the development of better
training and careership structures in the hospitality sector as
a priority.
THE TRUST
IN ACTION
The following examples illustrate ways in which
the National Trust is contributing to the development of a more
sustainable tourism industry:
Supporting local economies—The
Trust works with over 2,000 small, local businesses in conservation
work on our historic and other buildings and makes a net contribution
of over £18 million in running its business to the economies
of the north and west of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
We franchise local catering in many places, such as Studland and
Ashridge, and 60 per cent of the produce used in Trust restaurants
is locally sourced. We are developing a local food programme (including
a recently opened farm shop at Wallington in Northumberland).
Promoting local and regional character and
distinctiveness—The Trust has a programme of preparing
Property Management Plans for all its properties that include
Statements of Significance highlighting the distinctive qualities
and resources which should guide future management decisions.
The exploration covers economic, social, environmental and cultural
perspectives, often extending beyond the boundaries of the property.
Consultation with stakeholder groups, including local communities,
neighbours and visitors is being developed as a major part of
the programme.
Securing environmental improvements—The
Trust invests millions of pounds in conservation work that maintains
and improves the buildings and land in its care. It also tackles
degraded landscapes and was one of the key founders of the award-winning
Turning the Tide partnership restoring the degraded East Durham
coastline that had been despoiled by colliery waste. The vision
was to restore the once beautiful beaches, dunes and cliff-tops.
The Trust's head warden for the area, who had worked previously
at one of the collieries, has worked with local people to achieve
this and recruited a local volunteer force—of people who
used the coastline, whether it was enjoying it or abusing it—thereby
bringing social as well as environmental benefits to the area.
Minimising impacts—The Trust is
a leader in tourism management through planning where and when
people visit and controlling the number and size of car parks.
Timed tickets are in use at particularly vulnerable properties
such as Mr Straw's House in Nottinghamshire and Sissinghurst Castle
Garden in Kent. At Dyrham Park near Bath, a new visitor route
has been devised to ease the pressure on the more fragile parts
of the house. We also seek to reduce the wider impact of our activities.
Gibson Mill, an old cotton spinning mill on the Trust's Hardcastle
Crags Estate in Yorkshire, provides visitors with services that
can only be met autonomously on the site—energy, water,
waste treatment etc. The philosophy is that the conversion of
the building will be of a type and a scale that can be sustained
by the natural resources at the site, entailing minimum import
of material and minimum export of wastes. This means that the
property will be run totally on renewable principles, including
the collection of water for use at the Mill and dealing with the
effluent on the site, as well as energy.
Developing social capital—The Trust
is an important contributor to community development and social
capital. We work with and through others to bring conservation,
economic and social benefits. This can be illustrated by the Heritage
Centre at Morte on the Devon coast which, while a National Trust
building, has been developed and is now run by a local community
heritage group. At Woolacombe Beach the Trust has formed an innovative
partnership with the parish council, local schools and the community
to manage the beach, which is hugely important as a tourist resource.
Increasing public access—The Trust
is a major contributor to public access to the countryside and
our heritage. Our ownership and management of properties provides
opportunities for millions to enjoy. We also promote better links
between town and country, such as through our Inner City Project
in Newcastle, which provides children and their parents with the
opportunity to visit and enjoy rural properties and build confidence
and skills. The Trust is also actively encouraging alternatives
to the car such as walking, cycling, horse riding, travelling
by canal and public transport. Increasingly the Trust is working
with bus and rail operators to offer realistic and attractive
alternatives to visiting by car. In the Lake District the Trust
provides minibuses to distribute visitors evenly across the area
and away from "honey pots". Our work has been most dramatically
expressed in the Trust's decision to open Prior Park in July 1996
to the public without a car park.
Promoting education and understanding—At
Studland in Dorset, the National Trust has opened an environmental
education centre, which has been built on sustainable principles,
where visitors can monitor the impact they are having on the environment.
At Brancaster, the Trust's Millennium Activity Centre also focuses
on sustainability and offers accommodation for groups of students
and families.
October 2002
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