Supplementary memorandum submitted by
Professor Victor T C Middleton
In our witness statement to the Select Committee
we made the point that:
"Whatever the acceptance of data deficiencies
at the present time, we recognize that there is no likelihood
in current circumstances that millions of pounds will be allocated
annually to new data collection that sheds light on the visitor
economy."
When we appeared before the Committee on 29
January 2008 I sought to provide a practical indication of the
level of resources that might be judged appropriate to statistical
needs drawing on the work of the London Development Agency (LDA).
Over the last three years LDA has invested quite
heavily in tourism research. LDA did so because, although it has
full access to all the available statistics of tourism, it concluded
it could not rely on that data for its decision-making. Clearly
LDA faces its own budget constraints yet it was willing to spend
on management information. As a very rough guide, if the expenditure
per capita in the LDA area were to be grossed up to the England
population one would have an approximate annual expenditure figure
based on current political and administrative reality rather than
one such as the £7-8 million a year proposed by Allnutt but
rejected politically as unrealistic.
Of course the London region has its particular
visitor economy realities and the particular need to focus on
the Olympics in 2012 but all the other regions are grappling with
the same basic management information issues in relation to their
visitor economies. The issue is not about what surveys the LDA
money was used for but the overall level of resources judged necessary
to spend to underpin more cost-effective decision-making.
February 2008
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