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Memorandum by VisitBritain
COASTAL TOWNS
1. VisitBritain was delighted to provide evidence to the Committee for its Inquiry into Coastal Towns. We have followed progress with interest. This memorandum is a response to the short review of the issues, evidence base and research needs by Professor Steve Fothergill in the recently published Coastal Towns: Communities and Local Government Update Note on Coastal Towns - April 2008. As a public body with a statutory duty to advise Government and inform Parliament we believe we have identified important insights for further research into the seasonality of visitor economy in seaside resorts that will be of interest to the Committee and the Department, to whom we have copied this note.
2. An outcome of the Partners for England initiative we highlighted in our oral evidence to the Committee is the English Tourism Intelligence Partnership, launched at the Partners for England Summit in February 2008. The purpose of the Partnership is to lead action and investment involving various parties so as to improve tourism intelligence within England, and to provide better evidential support for tourism investment, strategy development and planning at national, regional and local levels. A key partner is the Office of National Statistics which has agreed to establish a new Tourism Intelligence Unit as part of the delivery programme.
3. VisitBritain is also currently conducting a Review of the British Tourism Framework and we welcome the priority placed on tourism in the current discussions about seaside towns:
PRIORITY 3: An assessment of the role of seaside tourism
It is astonishing that there is so little understanding of the scale and contribution of the seaside tourist industry. The Select Committee agreed: "We recommend that the Government conducts an immediate study on coastal tourism, including evaluating levels of spend of domestic and inbound visitors to the coast in comparison to non-coastal areas" (Recommendation 8)
It came as a genuine surprise to many people that the Seaside Economy report found that the British seaside holiday industry still shows plenty of signs of life. However, precisely how big the industry remains, how much it contributes to local economies, its current trends and how the situation varies from town to town all remain very unclear. Even total employment in the industry remains unclear. In this respect the seaside tourist industry may be unique: it is hard to point to another significant British industry about which so much basic information is unknown.
Assembling this sort of information is not an end in itself. The seaside tourist industry would seem as worthy of public support and encouragement as any other. RDAs and other bodies need to consider how their activities might best address the industry's needs. An information base is the first requirement. What is needed is a careful, statistics-and-economics driven study.
Seasonality is an important component of any investigation of the seaside tourist economy. This should include consideration of the consequences for individuals and communities.
(From Coastal Towns: Communities & Local Government Update Note on Coastal Towns - April 2008)
4. Professor Fothergill notes that "seaside tourism tends to be seasonal, even if there is also an all-year-round element in some places as well. Some elements of seasonality are well documented, others less so." We wish to contribute our analysis of seasonal unemployment in seaside Parliamentary constituencies which we hope is of interest.
5. The House of Commons Library website carries data for unemployment in Parliamentary constituencies dating back to December 1997. We have plotted the February and August unemployment figures from 1998-2008 in 50 seaside constituencies from around the Regions of England to try to identify trends and insights. Constituency level data occasionally provides sub-borough data (Bournemouth East and Bournemouth West; Brighton Kemptown, Brighton Pavilion, Hove etc). Other constituency data is cross-borough (South Dorset etc). The findings are therefore instructive but not completely precise indications of unemployment in resorts and we would welcome the more detailed research Professor Fothergill proposes. Members of Parliament in each constituency may also have local insights into seasonal swing by constituency.
6. At constituency level, we have identified 5 groups of "seasonal swing" unemployment from very large swing, to indiscernible swing. It is notable how swing varies over time, and we would suggest reasons for these variations in various resort constituencies. The prevalence of the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events (MICE) or Business Visits and Events (BVE) tourism markets in constituencies with indiscernible swing is particularly noteworthy.
7. Very Large Swing - often over 2 percentage points Graph by VisitBritain Public Affairs from data obtained from House of Commons Library Unemployment by Constituency figures
It is notable that even in this Very Large Swing group, swing has diminished into the twenty-first century. VisitBritain has been very keen, for example in media interviews, to highlight the difference that exists in our resurgent twenty-first century resorts compared to the unfortunate decline of the late twentieth century. The reduction in swing - and continuing trend reduction in claimant count unemployment - in North Cornwall is striking. The emergence of a year-round surfing tourism market in Newquay may hold the key to this trend. That has not been achieved by mistake. The popularization of the wetsuit has helped. But the increasing incidence of surfing in English waters has been a hard-won gain of environmental improvement for tourism and we have much to thank Blue Flag and Quality Coast standards for.
7. Large Swing - Often over 1.5 and up to 2.0 percentage points Graph by VisitBritain Public Affairs from data obtained from House of Commons Library Unemployment by Constituency figures
The swing in seasonal unemployment in Blackpool North & Fleetwood is noticeably smaller than in Blackpool South. The degree of swing in constituencies in this group is remarkably consistent year after year over the ten year period. The trend is for unemployment to decline then flatten out and/or increase slightly in recent years.
The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) seaside cultural regeneration fund, Sea Change, will soon invest £4m into both Blackpool and Torbay and the results in years to come will be of interest. Dover - a key year round port - which will also receive Sea Change money, is part of the next group - Notable Swing.
8. Notable Swing - often over 0.75 and up to 1.5 percentage points Graph by VisitBritain Public Affairs from data obtained from House of Commons Library Unemployment by Constituency figures (NB The top blue line of unemployment on this graph is Redcar)
Again the trend over ten years is for a decline in unemployment, through the regular swings until around August 2004 before starting a trend of leveling or picking up slightly (or picking up significantly in Harwich - which includes Clacton, Frinton and Walton-on-the-Naze).
Interestingly, the trend in Tynemouth is very similar (see below) to the trajectory of North Cornwall (though Tynemouth's swing is much less pronounced - a product of its commuter-belt status). The trend in claimant count unemployment continues to be downwards in both despite increases in unemployment elsewhere round the coast. Why might this be? Could it be because Tynemouth is on a par with Newquay as the centre for year round surfing and surf competitions in England? :
Graph by VisitBritain Public Affairs from data obtained from House of Commons Library Unemployment by Constituency figures
9. Small Swing - erratic evidence of swing, swing often below 0.75 percentage points Graph by VisitBritain Public Affairs from data obtained from House of Commons Library Unemployment by Constituency figures
Apart from Bognor Regis and Littlehampton, the current trend in claimant unemployment in each of these constituencies is downwards. It would be interesting to see the difference between Bognor and Littlehampton themselves. Bognor has sadly had to cancel its annual Birdman competition (as mentioned in VisitBritain's oral evidence) this year due to further problems with dilapidation of the pier. Littlehampton has sparked much media interest with the iconic new East Beach Café and promising plans for revival in the fortunes of the Harbour.
10. Indiscernible Swing Graph by VisitBritain Public Affairs from data obtained from House of Commons Library Unemployment by Constituency figures
Southend East and Rochford, perhaps displays signs of developing a small swing but in general swing is notably absent in this group. The revival of Southend-on-Sea has been a great twenty-first century seaside success story. The Cathedral constituencies of Wells and Canterbury each have seaside resorts - Burnham-on-Sea and Whitstable - on their coastlines. Unemployment is low and falling in both of them. The slightest hint of swing is evident, particularly in Wells, and it may be that closer examination may reveal swing in some parts of the constituency (eg the seafront, or around Glastonbury?), but not others.
Bournemouth, Brighton & Hove and Southport are very interesting. These are the English seaside resorts most developed as MICE centres - Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions. Blackpool will have much to do to regain its place in this market. If trends in claimant count unemployment are anything to go by, it is a market well worth investing in. Golf - and a place at the heart of 'England's Golf Coast' is another factor in Southport's success.
11. While much work remains to be done, VisitBritain would not want the Committee or others to view tourism as an economic problem that causes seasonal unemployment. The graphs above suggest that with the right product, seaside tourism economies can deliver low, decling and seasonally stable unemployment levels.
12. An ongoing debate about the English seaside is welcome and VisitBritain looks forward to playing its full part in the process.
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