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Mar 13, 2006
The British Travel Trade Fair
saw travel executives discuss the vital role played by the British government
in promoting local tourism.
Tom Wright FTS, Chief
Executive of VisitBritain, urged the UK tourism industry to maximize the
opportunities created by the Olympic and Paralympic Games and use the event to
demonstrate why tourism has to be taken more seriously by government. While
fellow panelists at the session backed this view, Julian Burrell FTS, Chairman
of the Wales Tourism Alliance, sounded a note of caution, saying that
separating tourism from the wider economy, of which it was a vital part, could
backfire.
Meanwhile, James Bidwell,
Chief Executive of Visit London, commenting on the role of the Tourism
Minister, supported the link with Creative Industries, saying “creativity is
fundamental to entertainment, which is after all the purpose of tourism.”
Bidwell said more needed to be done to develop business tourism, which had
shored up the industry after the London
bombings. He urged the sector to support the proposal for a London ICC, which
would complement Excel and host the extra business already being generated
ahead of 2012.
Other issues raised at this
year’s Tourism Society ‘Question Time’, chaired by Travel Weekly editor Richard
Siddle, included recruitment and retention in the tourism industry, spreading
the benefits of the Olympics across all of the UK,
quality assurance, the need for London’s
ICC and the role of local authorities and regional development agencies in
developing and managing tourism.
Commenting on quality
assurance, Tom Wright FTS said, ‘Although Scotland, Wales
and England
are all now working to the same quality standards in accommodation, we must now
focus on visitor attractions where only 600 out of 4,000 are quality assured’.
Peter Lederer OBE, Chairman
of VisitScotland, reflected on visitor information services, saying that
Tourism Information Centers are not now sustainable and visitors are looking
for a wider range of information sources, as well as the face to face service
provided at TICs. The panel concluded with a plea for more joined-up thinking
in the public funding of UK
tourism. Scotland and Wales were further down the road than England,
but there had been a long period of confusion for the consumer and the industry
and this needed to be resolved.
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