Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport Written Evidence


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:

    1.  They are too big.

    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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