YOUR article ‘ETC renews calls for grading scheme to take in all of UK’ on September 6 was incredibly misleading.
We are the English Tourism Council and our concern and jurisdiction is with England
Your article implies that there is some confusion in England – that is not the case.
There is now one standardised rating for the whole of England and in England we have 80% of the UK’s accommodation stock.
What I did say is ‘not perfect’ is that Scotland and Wales have a different system to that of England.
We hope that the debate will re-open in the near future – indeed, the recent Scottish Select Committee on Tourism recommended as much.
We have made fantastic strides to get to where we are in England. During the past 18 months, we have made 25,000 inspections and, for the first time, England has a blueprint for rating accommodation.
The challenge now is to work with the industry and local government to get as many people as possible to participate, so placing England at the forefront of the world’s accommodation providers.
Elaine Noble
Acting chief executive
English Tourism Council
London