| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 03/07/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 38 |
| Copyright: Other |
English tourism council by Joanne O’Connor
ETC presents strategy to lure back tourists
England sees less than 5% visitor growth
Champagne corks will be popping in Hammersmith this month as the English Tourism Council celebrates its first birthday.New chief executive Mary Lynch believes the staff have good reason to celebrate as just 18 months ago, it looked as though they might not be there at all.
Having narrowly escaped closure when the Government threatened to withdraw its funding, the then English Tourist Board was forced to reinvent itself to ensure its future. According to Lynch, what emerged from the shakedown was a leaner and more focused organisation, with fewer staff but a tighter remit and a £10m annual budget.
“Our focus has narrowed to concentrate on strategic, long-term, big issues,” said Lynch. “The ETB had so many different remits such as product development and promotion, it got dragged into too many areas.”
Lynch has been in the hot seat just three months but she knows there is a steep climb ahead.
England is seeing less than 5% growth in domestic tourism while outbound tourism is increasing at almost 30%. The strong pound is also making overseas holidays seem better value than ever.
The biggest challenge for Lynch is getting all the different organisations and companies in the travel and tourism industry to work together coherently.
“As an industry we haven’t been smart enough in how we communicate to the Government what was important to us. There are so many separate lobbies and organisations with their own agendas. We have to agree on what the big issues are,” said Lynch.
The ETC has identified three main areas upon which to focus its energies: quality, competitiveness and wise growth.
Quality
England is not a cheap destination for domestic or overseas visitors so the issue of quality is particularly important.
The ETC launched its Stepping Stones scheme in March designed to help the many small hotels and guest houses that did not meet the minimum standards required for an official ETC grading. The scheme offers advice and sets targets.
The next area to receive attention is attractions. Research by the ETC has shown that the overall number of visits to attractions is going down. This is bad news for the quality of existing attractions. “If visitor numbers drop, profit levels drop, reinvestment drops and ultimately the standard drops,” said Lynch.
The ETC has called together a working group to look at how to deal with the problem. The group will look at finding new ways of gathering information on visits and will draw up a checklist for prospective attractions with advice on forecasting visitor numbers and analysing what the competition is doing.
Similarly a “task force” made up of representatives from seaside resorts and the ETC research and policy department is halfway through a year-long study on English seaside resorts. Occupancy levels average 41% at most seaside hotels and resorts have lost the socio-economic ABC1 group. The ETC is looking at ways to lure them back. One possible option is to promote certain resorts for health and spa breaks.
Competitiveness
The emphasis here is on information technology and in particular the Internet. While there is a Visit Britain Web site, it does not offer a comprehensive range of services or bookability.
The ETC is trying to gather a complete database of all the attractions, accommodation and regional tourism organisations in England. Once compiled, it will offer on-line bookability and eventually expand into multimedia platforms.
Lynch said the ETC would like to work with the British Tourist Authority, Wales and Scotland to create a UK platform and would also be approaching commercial operators. The new system will be tested in March next yearand should be operational by October.
Another key achievement has been the launch of a brand for England in May. The ETC has been running workshops for operators on how to use the logo to help their business. “Creating a brand is a worthwhile exercise because it forces you to think about what it is about England that makes people want to visit and how best to spread that message,” said Lynch.
Wise growth
Once again a working group has been established to look at visitor management, pressure points and public transport. Lynch said it was all about getting the balance right. “The countryside needs visitors so services will be maintained but not so many that it spoils the experience.”
The ETC is working with the Countryside Agency to develop a Green Audit Kit which Lynch describes as a “simple checklist” with advice for small businesses on how to be more environmentally friendly by saving electricity and water and cutting down on laundry.
Lynch: in the hot seat