House of Commons - Culture, Media and Sport

Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport Written Evidence

Memorandum submitted by Tourism South East (TSE)

1. INTRODUCTION TO TSE

Tourism South East is a Company Limited by Guarantee formed from the merger of the South East England and Southern Tourist Boards in 2003. We are a not-for-profit enterprise, acting as the regional tourism agency for tourism, working closely with our public sector and commercial partners in the region.

We are funded by grants from the regional development agency (SEEDA) and from membership subscriptions from 58 Local Authorities and 1700 Commercial Members. SEEDA and our members provide £2.3 million of our annual income. The remaining £4.5 million of income is secured from our own entrepreneurial efforts to secure funding support, build partnerships and provide services.

Part of our remit is to act as the voice of tourism for the region.

We fully support and endorse the content of the detailed submission from the Tourism Alliance, as subscribing members of that organisation.

Rather than repeating the same information, we have limited our comments on the questions posed by the Select Committee to further evidence and additional points related to the South East experience.

2. DETAILED SUBMISSION

(a) The challenges and opportunities for the domestic and inbound tourism industries, including cheap flights abroad, and their impact on traditional tourist resorts

England as a whole is not convinced of the merit and value of its tourism sector. This doubt has been shared across some developed economies over the last decade. Other countries have recognised the deleterious economic effects of this lack of investment and have started to fix the problem.

In a competitive global economy, England is falling behind. Investment is required at the scale needed to achieve market impact.

The Select Committee's attention is drawn to the following examples:

Restoring America's Travel Brand.

— Additional funding provided by the Irish government to attract visitors:

John O'Donoghue, Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, said: "2006 has been one of the best years ever for overseas visits to Ireland and I look forward to even better things in the coming year with the implementation of Tourism Ireland's strategy for growth across all markets".

"For my part, I have secured an unprecedented level of Exchequer resources for tourism marketing and development. The increase of 9% in the tourism budget brings the tourism allocation up to €145 million (£98 million) and the Tourism Marketing Fund will increase 12.5% to €45 million (£30 million)—the largest ever Exchequer budget for Irish tourism promotion".

(Failte Ireland Press Release November 2006)

Challenges are identified as:

— Withdrawal by Local Authorities from tourism promotion and development due to funding pressures, despite their preference to remain engaged in the visitor economy. Over 20 Tourist Information Centres have closed in the SE over the last 5 years.

— Transport congestion.

— Working with budget airlines to reverse the flow from outbound to inbound travelers.

— Getting more businesses, especially SMEs, on line with bookable product.

— Driving up quality using the national QA schemes and the Internet.

— Achieving a motivated, well skilled, well rewarded workforce in the face of low unemployment and competition from other sectors.

Opportunities are identified as:

— New emerging long haul markets, such as China and India.

— Converting growing public concern for the environment into decisions to holiday at home.

— Turning the public's growing interest in health/activity based holidays/breaks and local food into a significant component of the tourism sector.

— The 2012 Games.

With regard to the specific impact on traditional tourist resorts, this is the result of many years of adjustment to former success. While many of our urban cities have enjoyed a revival through public sector led regeneration, most resorts are not realising their potential. Recognition is needed that some of the UK's resorts, even in the South East have some of the highest rates of deprivation, on a par with many inner city areas. Key challenges and opportunities for resorts include:

— Finding public sector resources to stimulate regeneration, particularly in the South East where local authority and other public sector budgets are squeezed and there are limited special designations which would attract substantial European funding.

— Reshaping resort economies to reduce reliance on tourism, where this is likely to be a smaller future component of the economy.

— Achieving consensus on a vision for each resort and securing private sector investment behind this vision.

— Managed reduction of the surplus or poor quality stock of accommodation and the retention of the best seafront/quality properties in tourism use.

— Marketing and development strategies which are consistent and target markets with longer term stability or growth potential.

— Each resort needs to develop a vision based around its Unique Selling Points and this needs to translate into a 10/20 year plan. This needs to be invested with sufficient weight/public and private sector buy-in.

— Most resorts need to make the conscious decision to become highly desirable places to live first and resorts second. Brighton is a classic example. Attractive places to live are often attractive places to visit.

(b) The effectiveness of DCMS and its sponsored bodies (such as VisitBritain) in supporting the industry

DCMS appears to place a lower priority on tourism compared to culture, media and sport. Funding for VB has not been increased in line with inflation since 1997. Over the 20 year period since 1985, apart from the investment in recovery after FMD, funding in real terms has decreased from c. £17 million to c £9 million.

When the DCMS tourism delivery vehicles were re-structured in 2003, DCMS indicated that it would take responsibility for research and policy issues which had previously been covered by ETC but were not part of the revised marketing-focused remit of VB. We feel that this area of activity has not been delivered to the former standard of BTA /ETC and should be reviewed to assist with strategic decision making.

DCMS has not yet produced a meaningful tourism strategy for the 2012 Games in the timescale flagged by the PM.

VB does the best job feasible with very limited resources and is facing declining private sector support due to the loss of leverage its funds can generate.

There is evidence in the record that the funding of an additional £20 million provided in 2001 and 2002 due to the exceptional circumstances of the time, produced real rewards, and that performance will slip back following subsequent funding withdrawal. The current peak of overseas visits to the UK may well be as a result of the investment in 2002 and 2003, but on a time lag of two to three years.

(c) The structure and funding of sponsored bodies in the tourism sector, and the effectiveness of that structure in promoting the UK both as a whole and in its component parts

England has lost the integrated network of national and regional tourist boards, and suffers a lack of coherence as a result.

A significant downside to this is the difficulty in achieving national programmes/co-operation. National programmes rely on separate negotiations with 9 RDAs and in some cases multiple RDPs and DMOs, each deciding its own priorities. The massive disparity in RDA funding means some can participate and others not. VisitBritain campaigns are an illustration of this and those with big budgets can buy up the space.

At TSE, we value the advice and support of SEEDA who, like us, are committed to joined up activity to support the tourism sector.

(d) The effect of the current tax regime (including VAT and Air Passenger Duty) and proposals for local government funding (including the "bed tax") upon the industry's competitiveness

We have nothing to add to the substantial response from the Tourism Alliance

(e) What data on tourism would usefully inform government policy on tourism

The Allnut report provides a thorough examination of available tourism data and its adequacy.

Overriding priority needs to be given to the basic requirement of collecting and monitoring accommodation stock.

The absence of any form of national co-ordination of tourism statistics has prompted proposals for a National Tourism Intelligence Unit. A Steering Group led by the South West RDA is taking this forward. This is unlikely to be a complete solution to the current dearth of good quality research data.

(f) The practicality of promoting more environmentally friendly forms of tourism

Encouraging tourism businesses to adopt more environmentally friendly business practices is an aspect of this. Over recent years the South West Tourism and Tourism South East have taken a lead in piloting the "Green Tourism Business Scheme"—an initiative firmly established in Scotland, and with real potential in England. The issues for roll out are:

— Sustaining the scheme longer term without ongoing public subsidy.

— Finding ways of building public awareness of the scheme so that they look out for GTBS accommodation—thereby justifying participation. Recognition on VisitBritain websites is part of this.

— Integrating GTBS principles into the national quality grading scheme—at the very least ensuring compatibility.

— Building programmes locally/regionally, which can take the maximum number of businesses along the journey towards GTBS accreditation.

The attention of the Committee is drawn to the recent report from the EU titled Action for More Sustainable European Tourism, Report of the Tourism Sustainability Group, February 2007. A section in Part 5, page 28 articulates the role of a Member state government. The section is reproduced as Appendix 1.

(g) How to derive maximum benefit for the industry from the London 2012 Games

We refer the Select Committee to our recent submission.

March 2007



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