Memorandum submitted by Margaret Blake
I would like to take this opportunity to comment
on the role and effectiveness of DCMS and the Sponsoring bodies
in the South West.
RECOMMENDATION
Establish a new complaints system about poor
quality tourism services. Run a campaign that ensures every hotel
and every B&B and every pub and restaurant carries complaint
forms. Run a campaign to tell visitors how to complain. The new
body should have similar powers to Trading Standards to prosecute
and close down the worst offenders.
Close down the grading system and use that money
together with the money spent by VisitBritain etc on trying to
persuade providers to join the scheme and use that to finance
the new complaints body.
I have a very small tourism business in a rural
area offering a cottage for self-catering accommodation and bed
and breakfast in the farmhouse. www.oldsolomonsfarm.co.uk
My daughter has a tourism business taking holiday makers on
a gentle journey in canoes on the river Tamar www.canoetamar.co.uk
Six years ago I was instrumental in setting
up a local tourism association for the Tamar Valley. We believed
we needed an association because the marketing carried out by
local authorities and South West tourism did not even mention
the Tamar Valley which forms the boundary between two counties.
Devon and Cornwall, neither of whom promote the area. Of the two
main district councils one promotes Dartmoor and the other promotes
the southeast coast of Cornwall.
Most of the tourism businesses in the valley
are very small family concerns whether they are pubs/restaurants,
artists, farm shops, attractions or accommodation providers. We
believed that if we worked together we could put the Tamar Valley
on the map. I guess that in a sense that is what Destination Management
Organisations are all about, putting their part of the country
on the visitor map.
I suggest that they have serious problems:
2. Their structure is dominated by the "big"
players whether the largest Councils or the biggest hotels or
restaurant chains.
3. They are too bureaucratic.
4. They are operating a closed shop policy.
1. The size of the DMOs means that the organisation
tries to dictate to the tourism sector rather than involving them
in decision making—two or three tourism business representatives
will not result in the commitment and understanding of all the
businesses in the area. SW Tourism's research on the whole visitor
experience shows that individuals spend more on shopping and eating
out than they do on their holiday accommodation. The whole community
needs to work together.
2. Big tourism companies are very important
but so is the contribution made by thousands of small business
like ours. Together we make a significant contribution to quality
tourism. I have no evidence that the views, needs and possible
contribution that the smaller business can and do make is considered
by these new organisations.
3. Bureaucracy seems inevitable when the
DMO involves a county council, several district councils and a
few selected businesses.
4. All over Devon and Cornwall there are
small accommodation providers with a single cottage or small high
quality B&B, offering an individual and personal service,
They make a significant contribution to the quality of tourism
provision in the area. Many are operating at the upper end of
the market and attract more overseas visitors. The majority of
these accommodation providers are not in the quality inspection
and grading scheme. In the Tamar Valley the percentage inspected
is about 40%. People have chosen not to be in that system because
there is no business advantage for them to do so. The DMO is only
promoting graded businesses—ie only businesses who choose
SW Tourism as their marketing tool. It is in effect a closed shop.
In any area, and certainly in the South West
there will be a small percentage of businesses not in the grading
system who are poor. However the majority of those choosing not
to join are as good if not better than many that are graded.
The grading system is confusing especially to
overseas visitors. How many people in this country could tell
you the difference between a three and four star cottage or three
and four crown B&B? For example what sense does it make when
a cheerful down market family motel with a carvery and basic pub
food has the same grade as a hotel with a national reputation
and is the hotel of choice for any minister coming to Government
Office South West?
But the most serious problem is that the grading
system does not weed out the poor provision and rogue business.
It does not even ensure that the standards are consistent and
maintained. Everyone has stories to tell of poor service in a
four or even five star establishment. It is so not working.
RECOMMENDATION
Establish a new complaints system about poor
quality tourism services. Hence the new complaints body.
Finally I would like to comment on the role of
local authorities and SW Tourism. The role of the tourism officer
in local government has nearly disappeared. Some officers have
been excellent but many do not appear to make any difference
to tourism in their area at all. The value of and need for local
guides in hard copy is declining.
Do we need government quangos to sell England
and its regions? Tourism Boards are an anachronism—they
were wonderful some time ago but the world has moved on. More
and more travel companies and more and more individuals use the
Internet to choose destinations, their accommodation and make
travel arrangements. The websites for VisitBritain and South West
tourism do not come up with search engines. Even if they were
effective small businesses would choose other cheaper internet
sites as these official bodies are not financially competitive.
March 2007
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