Memorandum submitted by the Museums, Libraries
Archives Council (MLA)
A. ABOUT THE
MLA PARTNERSHIP
The MLA Partnership is the lead strategic agency
for museums, libraries and archives in England. We work in partnership
to improve people's lives by building knowledge, supporting learning,
inspiring creativity and celebrating identity.
The MLA Partnership believes strongly that museums,
libraries and archives:
— are integral in attracting visitors
to Britain,
— contribute to a positive promotion
of the country overseas,
— will ensure that the 2012 Olympic
Games and Paralympic Games are an inclusive and transformational
event.
This response sets out the value museums, libraries
and archives can bring to tourism, now, and motivated by the 2012
Games.
B. TOURISM AND
MUSEUMS, LIBRARIES
AND ARCHIVES
Museums, libraries and archives are an integral
part of Britain's attraction to tourists:
— 85% of overseas visitors come here
for our museums and galleries.
— Seven of the top ten visitor attractions
in the UK are publicly funded museums and galleries.
— 83% of the winners of large and small
"visitor attractions of the year" since 2002 are from
the sector.
— 10-11 million overseas visitors go
to the major museums and galleries in Britain each year, generating
over £350 million pa.
— UK households spend on average £59
each week on recreation and culture—more than on any other
commodities and services except transport.
In addition to the enormous draw the sector
has for overseas tourists, within the UK we know that significant
numbers of domestic visitors are attracted to our cities and countryside
to attend exhibitions and undertake, for both pleasure and business,
research and study in our institutions. Museums, libraries and
archives are key drivers within the mass domestic visitor infrastructure
with 43% of the population visiting a museum or gallery each year,
288 million visits to libraries and two million people using archives.
Increasing domestic tourism by working with and prioritising the
cultural sector offers a triple win of economic, social and environmental
benefit that is sustainable and achievable. It also supports the
Sustainability Action Plans set up by government departments,
including DCMS.
The implied role of London as a gateway is made
clear in most tourism consultations and particularly relevant
for the Olympics. While London is a key marketing attractor for
inbound visitors the regional dimension of the tourism offer,
and specifically of the museum, library and archive product, is
key to the diversity and richness of our offer. Museums, libraries
and archives across Britain play a vital role in broadening the
visitor appeal of greater London, the regions and nations, encouraging
people to prolong their stay and visit across the UK. It is critical
for the cultural sector to continue to raise its profile and continue
to develop its tourism offer. The MLA Partnership therefore requests
that any future tourism strategy engages with cultural bodies
both nationally and in the regions to develop the offer.
Museums, libraries and archives are keen to
build on the sector's successful experiences in engaging with
people from diverse backgrounds, for whom English is not their
first language, who may be unfamiliar with custom and practice
in the UK, who may be disabled in terms of mobility, hearing or
vision. The sector is already seeking opportunities to develop
the skills of the workforce to provide a world class welcome to
visitors.
In the future, Britain's economic prosperity
and well-being will depend less on industrial prowess or natural
resources and more on developing, attracting, retaining and mobilising
creativity. In this 21st century, goods, services and industries
driven by knowledge and creativity will define Britain's competitive
edge. In many ways, our cultural assets are the greatest in the
world and our cultural institutions take the lead internationally
in access, learning and innovation.
C. WORKING WITH
SPONSORED BODIES
IN THE
TOURISM SECTOR
The MLA Partnership is keen to build the sector's
capacity by developing partnerships for international marketing
and an improved sector offer to maximise mutual opportunities.
The MLA Council sit on VisitBritain's "Culture Club"
and the MLA Regional Agencies have links to regional tourism bodies.
We would expect any new approaches to be managed through these
existing structures and for these structures to be improved and
become more consistent.
At present VisitBritain works with a multiplicity
of bodies to attract tourism, domestic and overseas. Yet, there
is no sense of a strategy behind its engagement with the cultural
and heritage sector despite the sector being such a significant
draw to overseas tourists.
One particular weakness is the lack of collaboration
and partnership working over the collection of tourism data and
statistics. As an integral part of the tourism sector museums,
in particular, rely on this data and statistics to provide key
management and marketing information. As the DCMS Review of Tourism
Statistics revealed in 2004 (ONS 2004) the sector lacks adequate
data and the infrastructure to collect it. This report, drawing
on recommendations from DCMS's own vision paper Tomorrow's Tourism
Today, called for the creation of a Tourism Statistics Unit. As
far as we are aware this has still not been created. We urge DCMS
to return to the 14 recommendations that were made in 2004 and
establish the unit as part of the preparation for the Olympic
Games.
At a regional level work with tourism bodies
has been varied. There have been some very successful partnerships
and projects with RDAs and tourism bodies. However, in some regions,
activity is driven by MLA regional agencies approaching the tourism
bodies rather then the other way round. Some examples of this
work include:
MLA London and Visit London—MLA London
is the lead partner for the Village London campaign in May-June
2007, promoting tourism in outer London. The campaign came out
of research commissioned by MLA London from Visit London on how
to promote museums, libraries and archives in outer London—a
key strategic aim for our sector, as well as a key strand in the
Mayor of London's Tourism Strategy. The campaign will link clusters
of "hidden gem" museums and other attractions to existing
walking and cycling routes.
MLA East Midlands worked with the region's five
Destination Management Organisations (DMOs): Arts Council East
Midlands, English Heritage, the National Trust and East Midlands
Tourism to mount a conference on Cultural Tourism in May 2006.
East Midlands does not have as high a tourism profile as other
regions and MLA East Midlands would welcome a more vigorous partnership
with East Midlands Tourism to fulfil mutual aims.
MLA South East and Tourism South East work in
partnership in the designated Growth Areas, such as Thames Gateway/North
Kent, to ensure new communities benefit from a vibrant and sustainable
cultural tourism sector. More widely in the South East the two
agencies worked together to tailor Welcome Host training for people
working in museums. Twelve training sessions were held and attended
by staff from 63 museums across the region. Similar sessions have
also taken place in the West Midlands.
MLA South East and Tourism South East—worked
together on a Family Friendly marketing campaign with museums
in the Thames Valley. This led to the development of a Tourism
South East Kids Country/Family Fun campaign for 2006, which was
the first of new style targeted campaigns using Tourism South
East's leading-edge research incorporating Ark Leisure's values
based profiling system. It also supported the work 24Hour Museum
was doing to create interoperability with EnglandNet which now
provides data on museums to all national sources such as Enjoy
England. The Family Friendly project is now being rolled out to
include museums right across the South East of England.
MLA North West have worked with the North West
Regional Development Agency (RDA) to create a "museums framework"
which identifies museums in the region which meet RDA tourism
objectives. This has opened up access to ERDF funding and ensured
that the RDA now see the value of museums within the regional
tourism infrastructure.
Much of this work could be extended across England
if culture was prioritised more highly within tourism nationally.
The MLA partnership believe earlier engagement with cultural bodies
and a greater degree of practical support, the benefits of which
are proven by the projects listed above, will considerably lift
the sector's own ability to deliver a better welcome to tourists
and increase visitors.
A key area in which we would like to work more
closely with VisitBritain is in ancestral/genealogical tourism
within England. This form of tourism is already supported and
promoted heavily by VisitScotland but has not been much exploited
within England. It is a major growth area for archives in particular
but also museums and libraries as people visit from overseas to
find out about and visit where their family came from. With support
from tourism bodies we could do more to promote access to archival
resources and improve the welcome.
Virtual tourism and using the internet for research
prior to visits requires joined up technological initiatives.
We need to maximize existing resources and museums, libraries
and archives are at the forefront of a number of innovative developments
which have relevance here, such as the 24 Hour Museum. The sector's
expertise in the digital presentation of collections and of transforming
them into learning and marketing resources; the creation of the
People's Network and its enquiry and information channels; the
roll-out of Wi-Fi through our institutions, plus other such initiatives,
all have the potential to support tourism and marketing. Digital
content across a broad range of media, learning and sharing lessons
as technology develops must be managed up to 2012 and beyond.
MLA provides core funding to the 24 Hour Museum,
and welcomed the establishment of a link between the 24 Hour Museum
and VisitBritain, enabling information about news, exhibitions
and events in UK museums to be used by VisitBritain websites worldwide.
MLA is supporting the 24 Hour Museum in extending the functionality
of the 24 Hour Museum to include more information about online
resources that can be used in VisitBritain portals across the
world. This is supported by the EU-funded MICHAEL project MLA
welcomes this initiative, and would like these links to develop
further.
The museums, libraries and archives sector has
effective experience of working in partnership with broadcasters
to broaden the reach of collections, sites and programmes. This
type of partnership offers considerable opportunity for international,
national and regional marketing campaigns. Programmes as diverse
as Coast, Who do you think you are? and Pride & Prejudice
have demonstrated how television can generate tourist visits,
both domestic and international. In 2007 the Horniman Museum in
south London, one of the partners in the London Museums Hub delivering
the Renaissance programme, has a major partnership with the BBC
for its Walking with Beasts exhibition, linked to the BBC series.
There is an opportunity for the BBC to use programming as loss
leaders to stimulate positive images of the UK nations and regions
to target countries. Furthermore, VisitBritain already capitalises
on film location sites, including significant heritage sites,
with film trails and websites and such activity could be extended
further to partner broadcast and cultural activity, particularly
for domestic day trips and weekend breaks.
D. THE LONDON
2012 GAMES
Museums, libraries and archives contribute directly
to characteristics identified as important for a successful Games
through helping to build "a positive and engaging nation,
at home with its rich cultural heritage but embracing change and
open to new ideas." Our sector will engage with an emerging
generation of young people, celebrate diversity and help deliver
the best ever Games, sustaining a legacy for people in all regions.
MLA will champion the development of collections, audiences and
workforce so that the Games will be a transformational event for
the sector and the country, raising aspirations and broadening
horizons.
We have set out here some general and also some
specific suggestions for making the most of our sector in terms
of Games-driven tourism. However, many of these suggestions are
relevant at any time. The difference the Games make is in providing
a unique and extended focus, and potentially funding, to enable
a concentrated period of change and partnership in order to showcase
our cultural riches. With the collections and resources offered
by our museums, libraries and archives we have an incredible opportunity
to show the world to the nation and the nation to the world.
A coherent approach—The MLA Partnership
recommends that DCMS take a cross-departmental and cross-cultural
approach to funding 2012 activity. This will facilitate an effective
Cultural Olympiad from 2008 and 2012, reduce competitive bidding
from within the cultural sector, support the aims of a co-ordinated
cultural offer, and leave a legacy of enhanced co-operation in
the future across the cultural sector with greater capacity to
deliver joined-up programming. DCMS must take a UK-wide approach,
liaising with Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Brand—We recognise the legal constraints
under which LOCOG must guard the Olympic brand, and we welcome
their efforts to develop a "secondary" brand which could
be more widely used, particularly during the cultural Olympiad
by organisations contributing to delivering the best ever Games.
The need for such a brand is urgent and compelling, as it will
provide valuable association with the Games for those without
direct access to the Olympic marque and official sponsors—particularly
as the direct funding for projects will be limited.
Direct engagement—All Games structures
should enable full engagement directly with communities and facilitate
more direct consultation with the target customer base. Although
the continued involvement of policy-makers is key, it should be
complemented by direct engagement of existing and future users
of the tourism products. There is a specific need to target young
people, especially those who will be teenagers during the Cultural
Olympiad and the Games.
Programmes that target young people and involve
schools are effective mechanisms for direct engagement. The MLA
Partnership, with the museums, libraries and archives sector,
has a number of national initiatives including Renaissance and
our education programmes which contribute to these activities.
Infrastructures—MLA chairs the International
Exhibition Programme, one of the key strands of the Cultural Olympiad,
to ensure that we maximise use of, and access to, collections
across the nation. Our investment through our programmes, most
notably Renaissance, is delivering quality visitor experiences.
Renaissance-funded subject-specialist networks exist to further
cross-sector collaboration; a particularly relevant example is
the Sports Heritage Network which is involved in developing activity
focussed on Olympic themes.
Access—The MLA Partnership supports a
coherent approach to tourism across the cultural sector and with
other Games-related bodies, in order to deliver maximum benefit
from the Games. It is essential that access is considered in broader
terms than just physical disability. That it considers general
access issues for families with young children and for older people,
and that it establishes incentives for improved access across
the board, not just for accommodation. The Games provide an opportunity
and a catalyst to make everyone feel welcome and able to engage
fully in all activities.
With the Paralympic Games a prominent element
of the Games, it is an ideal opportunity to ensure that the sector
further develops its services to be welcoming and accessible places
for people with a range of disabilities. Training around disability
awareness will be developed, and people with a range of abilities
and disabilities will be encouraged to volunteer.
The museums, libraries and archives sector can
play a vital role in the provision of information to enable people
to engage with the Games. Public libraries, in particular, are
already a key source of information and meeting places in communities.
They are at the forefront of providing universal access to information
technology and the internet, with over 30,000 computer terminals
in public libraries with broadband internet access providing over
68.5 million hours of internet use every year across the UK. They
will be information hubs for activity related to the Games and
provide a platform for offering the cultural programme through
new technologies to the widest possible audience.
Broadcasting models, such as those set out in
Section C should be integral to marketing initiatives as well
as providing models for broad community engagement with the Games.
The welcome—The Games should be used as
a catalyst for a step change in attitudes to customer service
in the UK. Training should be at the heart of any customer service
programme for anyone who comes into contact with visitors. The
idea of generating a "welcome" needs to spread beyond
what would traditionally be seen as tourism and involve partnership
across the public, private, voluntary and community sectors. In
focus group discussions held with the sector in summer 2006, participants
expressed interest in developing Welcome Host training across
the sector.
Case Study —MLA East Midlands worked with
East Midlands Tourism (EMT) to ensure that the region's museums
benefit from VisitBritain's Visitor Attraction Quality Assurance
Service (VAQAS). EMT put on a series of VAQAS Awareness events
in 2005-06 which were well attended by local authority and independent
museums. In 2006-07 MLA East Midlands offered to pay the VAQAS
joining fee for museums, to encourage small museums to undergo
an assessment of the quality of the visitor experience.
Mary Smedley, Manager of Belper North Mill in
the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site said "The VAQAS
assessor's advice was spot on and his wider experience of hundreds
of attractions was well worth the fee. We were getting consultant
expertise for less than it would cost. His advice on our retail
activity really helped in getting our shop redesigned and refurbished".
She added, "Very few of the thousands of smaller museums
will be able to afford the annual fee and will sadly miss out
on the benefits. The scheme will also miss out on some quality
attractions".
Many of our institutions have already achieved
a range of quality standards relating to customer care and wider
consumer experience. We would like to extend access to the scheme
to others and ensure best practice in this area can be identified
and disseminated to other institutions to encourage improved levels
of welcome.
Volunteering and skills development—The
museums, libraries and archives sector is well-placed to recruit
and develop many of the volunteers forecast to be needed for the
Games. Volunteers have always been an important part of the museums,
libraries and archives workforce and the sector is keen to ensure
the Games provide an opportunity through which this workforce
can be expanded, particularly attracting individuals from communities
who would not normally volunteer within the sectors' institutions.
Developing a diverse pool of volunteers will be crucial in providing
a quality welcome to visitors, as well as supporting individuals
in learning new skills and engaging in the Games.
The Games and Cultural Olympiad will offer considerable
opportunity for new employment—jobs which will require basic
skills which libraries can help to deliver, as well as the potential
for libraries to offer targeted high-level knowledge transfer.
E. SETTING THE
PACE
Setting the Pace, the MLA Partnership's national
2012 programme, will be published in summer 2007. It will outline
delivery plans for five projects which have been developed as
the result of extensive consultation with the sector and other
stakeholders. During 2007-08 we will work to develop the business
plan for each programme area with key partners, including LOCOG,
the GLA, regional cultural consortia, tourism agencies, Arts Council,
UK Film Council, and the Lottery bodies.
International Exhibitions Programme—A
distributed series of exhibitions across the UK which re-tell
the stories surrounding UK collections in museums and galleries
from new international perspectives including those from local
communities.
Living Archive—Will provide the opportunity
for everyone to record and share their experiences of the Cultural
Olympiad and the Games via digital and new media. We will support
community archives to record the local experiences of the Games
and work with our sector to conserve and develop the legacy.
Official Archive—Partners within the sector
will hold the official record of the Games on behalf of future
generations. MLA will bring together UK archives and international
expertise to explore how best to ensure a comprehensive and accessible
record of the Games is created. We will set a new standard for
the creation and management of Games archive for the benefit of
the Olympic movement and future host cities.
Literature and Story-telling—Unique for
their role in literature, books and learning, our libraries are
the community's place for reading. In the lead up to 2012 they
will present a series of activities focused on literature and
story-telling. We will commission new works around Olympic Ideals,
re-telling and collecting traditional stories from around the
world.
Cultural Information Hubs—With over 4,500
across the UK, libraries are safe and trusted places in the community
where the Games will be brought to life for local people all across
the country. We will provide free on-line and local access to
comprehensive information about the Cultural Olympiad and the
Games, signposting local events and scheduling and results information
as well as historical and biographical information.
F. MAXIMISING
THE LEGACY
As well as ensuring a quality welcome, if the
Games are to generate increased tourism on a lasting basis the
range and quality of the activities, exhibitions and events offered
will need to be of the highest standard. Work is in progress within
the museums, libraries and archives sector as well as across the
broader cultural sector, to develop sustainable programmes and
activities to draw visitors into all the English regions.
The MLA Partnership has already identified key
legacy targets for the sector within our 2012 programme which
we will be seeking to refine and develop:
A. Communities
— have ensured access to our services
for people with disabilities;
— have a diverse workforce—including
trustees, staff and volunteers,
— have attracted and sustained new
audiences through our improved services.
B. Learning
— have improved our services through
developing new partnerships within the UK and internationally;
— have enriched our collections through
re-interpretation and the creation of a record of the Games;
— everyone will have access to knowledge
and information through our sector,
— our sector will have inspired young
people to embrace Olympic and Paralympic values.
C. Economic Impact
— have improved our standards of customer
care;
— have strengthened our position in
the tourist market,
— be recognised leaders in the transfer
of knowledge with business and the creative industries.
Research and evidence—The existing evidence
base presents conflicting forecasts for Games-related and Games-motivated
cultural tourism and impact. There is a need to forecast as accurately
as possible whether aspects of cultural tourism during the Games
and the Cultural Olympiad will decline, increase or remain the
same. To ensure effective planning and engagement there is therefore
a strong need for more research and better evidence in order for
the cultural sectors (and others) to realistically gauge the impact
of the Games. We understand that Visit London, in particular,
is actively refining this forecasting, and we look forward to
being able to discuss its implications for planning in the near
future.
Virtual tourism—We believe this should
be an integral part of any tourism activity and future targets
should incorporate "virtual" tourism as well as turnover
associated with tourism spend from those physically present.
Market Growth—The MLA Partnership would
also welcome support to develop better evidence about visitors
to museums, libraries and archives—visitors from the local
community, those visiting friends and relatives, those visiting
while travelling for business, and general leisure travellers
from outside the UK. A good baseline of evidence would enable
tracking of market growth. Once a baseline is established it would
be more appropriate to our sector to measure the percentage growth
rather than turnover growth due to the mixed base of museums,
libraries and archives. They stretch across the spectrum of independent
and private enterprise, voluntary and/or community enterprise,
publicly-funded services, statutory services and permutations
of all of these.
Furthermore it would be helpful to understand
better the different motivation for, and customer needs of, inbound
versus domestic tourism. Any targets should be based on a firm
baseline of evidence using clearly defined terms, which would
enable clear improvement objectives to be set.
H. CONCLUSION
Museums, libraries and archives are integral
to our offer to tourists, internal and overseas. In the run-up
to the 2012 Games and beyond we look to see better coordination
of tourism activity and a greater involvement of our sector by
the tourism agencies, such as:
Greater co-operation and co-ordination: That
any future tourism strategy engages with cultural bodies at an
early stage, both nationally and in the regions, to develop the
offer. We would expect any new approaches to be managed through
existing structures and for these structures to be improved and
become more consistent.
Exploit existing infrastructure and programmes:
That development of the offer to tourists uses and improves what
we have in the sector. This ensures utilising institutions; skills;
volunteers; digital resources and expertise; programmes and funding
effectively for nationwide impact and appeal.
Research and data: Revisit findings of the Review
of Tourism Statistics and implement where possible, particularly
the creation of a Tourism Statistics Unit. Support research into
the impact of Olympics on tourism and motivation for domestic
tourism.
March 2007
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