Memorandum submitted by the Northern Ireland
Tourist Board (NITB)
1. The Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB)
welcomes the opportunity to provide evidence to the Culture, Media
and Sport Committee.
2. NITB was established in 1948 to promote
tourism in Northern Ireland. Its functions, duties and powers
are set out in the Tourism (Northern Ireland) Order 1992. NITB
is a Non Departmental Public Body—its parent department
is the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment.
3. NITB is responsible for encouraging tourism
in Northern Ireland. Given the cross cutting nature of tourism
this involves working with and co-ordinating a broad range of
public and private sector bodies. Tourism Ireland Limited (TIL)
promotes the island of Ireland (including Northern Ireland) outside
the island, including in Great Britain. NITB also has a close
relationship with VisitBritain with which it has a Memorandum
of Understanding. This provides that whether VisitBritain will
promote Great Britain or the UK will be agreed on a case by case
basis, depending on the level of customer awareness and understanding
of the individual country brands in any particular territory,
and will also take account of economies of scale.
4. VisitBritain charges NITB for promotional
work undertaken as a result of the above and for an annual fee
provides NITB with a range of core services which include market
research, website links, access to the VisitBritain photo library,
print opportunities, literature distribution and a basic enquiry
handling service and the referral of more detailed enquiries to
the local TIL office.
5. There is also an extensive network of
collaboration between NITB and tourism bodies in GB. The Chairman
of NITB attends VisitBritain Board meetings as an observer, the
Chief Executives of NITB, VisitBritain, VisitScotland, Visit Wales
and Visit London meet quarterly; the marketing directors, research
specialists and business planners of all of these Boards also
meet in separate forums approximately every quarter to discuss
collaborative projects and share best practice.
6. Domestically NITB, VisitBritain, VisitScotland
and Visit Wales join forces each year to conduct the United Kingdom
Tourism Survey which measures the volume and value of trips taken
by UK residents. We also collaborate on the UK Occupancy Survey
required under the EU Statistics Directive.
7. On 15 March 2007 the Northern Ireland
Affairs Committee published its report on Tourism in Northern
Ireland and its Economic Impact and Benefits. This is a wide ranging
report and NITB has therefore focused its submission to the Culture,
Media and Sport Committee on two areas—the practicality
of promoting more environmentally friendly forms of tourism and
tourism data.
THE PRACTICALITY
OF PROMOTING
MORE ENVIRONMENTALLY
FRIENDLY FORMS
OF TOURISM
Introduction
8. In Northern Ireland, sustainable tourism
development has been a fundamental part of all recent tourism
strategy and policy although in practice there is still some way
to go in implementing it on the ground and encouraging industry
to seize the market opportunity.
Natural Resource Rural Tourism Initiative (NRRTi)
9. In 2000, NITB together with colleagues
in the Department of the Environment's (DoE (NI)) Environment
& Heritage Service and the Department of Agriculture and Rural
Development (DARD) devised a sustainable development programme
which aimed to deliver tourism development across the region which
was underpinned by the best principles of economic, environmental
and social sustainability.
10. This programme—the Natural Resource
Rural Tourism Initiative was a precedent for joined up thinking
across government in the delivery of a major tourism programme.
Funded through the EU PEACE II Programme 2000-06, this initiative
has left a legacy of good practice in joined up policy making
and in delivering on an ambitious sustainable development agenda.
Of particular importance was the method of delivery—through
local delivery partners representing tourism, economic, social
and environmental groups in each of the Sperrins, Fermanagh Lakelands,
the Mournes, South Armagh and the Causeway Coast & Glens.
Approximately £15 million was invested in over 600 projects
ranging from visitor servicing, attractions, events, environmental
management programmes, beach management, eco-tourism initiatives
and marketing.
11. The principles underlying NRRTi are
now mainstreamed within the policies and strategies of NITB, DoE
and DARD and the delivery of the programme has provided important
practical solutions to the development and promotion of environmentally
friendly forms of tourism which are of enormous benefit going
forward.
Sustainable Tourism Development
12. NITB is the strategic leader for tourism
in Northern Ireland, but like other tourist boards across the
UK and Ireland, is not the custodian of the resources available
for tourism. This is in the main the responsibility of other government
departments, NGOs and the private sector. This necessitates a
strong leadership role, with NITB establishing a consumer and
customer focused development and marketing strategy which then
becomes the template for how others invest in the tourism resources
across Northern Ireland.
13. This requires a proactive approach both
to influencing and directing the policies and strategies of other
government departments and agencies, ensuring that the resources
available for tourism are invested appropriately and in line with
the demands of our consumers. Within this, NITB has established
the following position statement of Sustainable Tourism Development:
We have an opportunity to grow tourism in a
measured, organic way. An individualistic approach, investing
in a personalised, almost bespoke visitor experience will appeal
to those visitors who care most about what Northern Ireland has
to offer. While the economic impact of tourism is important, it
cannot be the sole driver. Environmental and social impacts must
also be afforded a primacy which takes them beyond mere aspiration.
Sustainable Tourism Development in Northern Ireland will be characterised
by:
— Respect for and understanding of
environmental capacity issues.
— Sensitive, sympathetic and positive
planning of land use to balance the needs of tourism and environmental
conservation.
— Ensuring our key natural and cultural
assets—our competitive advantage—are valued and protected,
rather than compromised.
— Economically viable businesses based
on competitive business models, sound market research, responsiveness
to market demands, trends and competition.
— Social sustainability; ensuring that
tourism is owned by and benefits host communities.
14. Success will rest largely on:
— the responsiveness of our government
partners;
— the acceptance of these principles
by business and industry;
— the provision of appropriate incentives
alongside legislation to encourage sustainable development,
— on responding in the right way to
an increasingly sophisticated and environmentally conscious visitor
market.
15. NITB is proactive in the development
and implementation of environmentally friendly, sustainable tourism
development in Northern Ireland. It will however require the full
endorsement of this strategy at both central and regional government
level and the full buy-in from the private sector.
WHAT DATA
ON TOURISM
WOULD USEFULLY
INFORM GOVERNMENT
POLICY ON
TOURISM
16. Tourism data and statistics represent
key management information for tourism decision purposes, for
overall national and regional policy formulation, targets and
monitoring. They are required for use in:
— Economic evaluation of tourism and
monitoring within both the national and regional economy—now
implementing Tourism Satellite Accounting (TSA) Options.
— Planning—identifying the overall
volume and forms of tourism to be supported and other forms to
be discouraged through strategic and other planning guidelines
for tourism.
— Marketing—targeting segments,
targeting products and themes, campaign plans and monitoring systems
to record progress.
— Sustainable development—meaning
assessing tourism volume and value trends, product development
trends and the use of indicators and benchmarks to monitor and
guide progress on the environmental and social impacts of tourism.
— Advocacy—the use of data for
demonstrating the economic, social and environmental values of
tourism, especially in debates in which tourism priorities are
established in comparison with other obligations of government.
17. The actual data requirements relating
to the above have been previously discussed and reported in the
2004 Review of Tourism Statistics by Denis Allnutt, in which the
NITB participated. Such data also contributes to the needs of
the private sector, especially in relation to investment and marketing
decisions.
18. The report highlighted that the volume,
value and nature of tourism of the following market segments required
measurement:
Domestic Tourism
19. This is currently measured by the four
National Tourist Boards of the United Kingdom through the United
Kingdom Tourism Survey (UKTS) and is based on in-home interviews
with adults, mainly using a random omnibus survey. This gives
a measure of the value and volume of domestic tourism, purpose
of visit, length of stay etc. It has been ongoing since 1989 and
gives useful trend analysis of consumer changes over time.
Out-of-State (International) Tourism
20. Great Britain conducts the International
Passenger Survey (IPS) which is a survey of a random sample of
passengers entering and leaving the UK by air, sea or the Channel
Tunnel. The equivalent survey in Northern Ireland is called the
Northern Ireland Passenger Survey (NIPS). As Northern Ireland
also shares a border with the Republic of Ireland (ROI) additional
overnight tourism revenue estimates are garnered through surveys
conducted by ROI's Central Statistics Office and Failte Ireland.
Domestic Tourism Day-Trip Spend
21. Generally a Leisure Day Visits Survey
(LDVS) is used to estimate domestic tourism day trip spend. This
survey has been carried out in an infrequent manner in GB and
recently a leisure visit survey covering only English residents
taking day trips within England during 2005 was published. Currently
there are no surveys underway which would take into account Northern
Ireland domestic tourism day-trip expenditure.
22. Although concentrating only on specific
sectors, and collecting data from businesses rather than consumers,
the following three surveys give an insight and gauge of tourism
demand and activity in the Northern Ireland economy.
United Kingdom Occupancy Survey (UKOS)
23. This is a monthly survey based on a
sample of serviced accommodation which primarily monitors room
and bed-space occupancy. This survey in Northern Ireland would
be considered to be more robust than those carried out in GB due
to Northern Ireland's legislation providing a comprehensive sampling
frame through means of the NITB certification process. This is
currently not the case in GB or ROI.
24. Other Accommodation surveys are implemented
separately by each National Tourist Board assessing the demand
for Self-Catering Accommodation, Hostels and Caravan/Camping (although
not in Northern Ireland in the latter two cases).
Survey of Visitor Attractions
25. This survey is conducted by each National
Tourist Board on an annual basis and monitors the growth in visitor
attendance to attractions associated primarily with entertainment,
interest or education. While a joint UK report is no longer produced,
these reports are produced in similar formats allowing for benchmarking
performance in each jurisdiction.
Tourism Barometer (Panel Survey)
26. Each of the UK National Tourist Boards
participates in their own version of panel surveys to measure
industry confidence at various stages throughout the year. Such
a survey (the NITB Tourism Barometer) is conducted three times
a year in Northern Ireland (June, September and December) and
has been designed to obtain an insight into the performance of
the industry and its businesses in the current year in comparison
to the preceding year. Prospects for the year ahead are also examined.
Evidence on short-term trends proves invaluable for marketing
and for monitoring the impact of a crucial or monumental event
(ie the effects of 9/11, Foot-and-Mouth disease, etc).
Economic Impact Measurement
27. The National Tourist Boards of the UK
and Ireland have participated in the development of Tourism Satellite
Accounts (TSA), to varying degrees. Based on information garnered
from the above surveys, together with information on the wider
economies of each jurisdiction, TSAs were produced using internationally
recognised methodologies and formats, allowing for comparisons
between jurisdictions as to the contribution of tourism to the
economy and numbers of jobs it supports. While the "First
Steps TSA Study" was a joint exercise between UK and Ireland
bodies, and each recognised the value in going forward with TSAs
as a process, no further formalised plans exist for further joint
participation or co-ordination of future TSAs.
28. We hope this evidence is of value to
the Committee.
March 2007
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