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27 Jan 2010
What can the hospitality industry expect from a Conservative Government?
In a paper issued in December, the Conservative Party Tourism Taskforce put forward a number of radical proposals that will impact on the industry.
Tourism has long been the forgotten industry in government – most noticeably emphasised by the fact that the title of its sponsoring
government department - Culture Media and Sport - gives no hint that tourism is by far the biggest industry, in terms of revenues and employment, in its remit.
Nor, although DCMS is nominally in charge (and despite the industry’s size and economic importance), does the department have a tourism section or any tourism specialists. So knowledge of the industry is weak. The current minister for tourism, Margaret Hodge MP is the eighth minister since 1997 and she currently has a range of other industries in her portfolio. As a result, leadership in tourism does not get the minister’s undivided attention.
As a sponsoring department for an industry that’s worth over £114bn and employs over 2m people, its influence over the rest of Whitehall is also famously weak.
One of the Treasury’s most damaging recent decisions – to withdraw the Hotel Buildings Allowance and reduce capital allowances – was made without consultation with DCMS. Subsequent objections have been futile. The
imposition of higher fees for visas – making them uncompetitive and too expensive for many overseas visitors – was agreed without recourse to DCMS.
Its weakness was also highlighted when it delegated the preparation of the key British Tourism Framework report – a document that sets out the direction for government action in tourism - to VisitBritain. It should surely have written the document itself but there was no internal expertise to produce it.
Damagingly, there has been constant indecision about the role and purpose of a tourist board for England, which has moved through various guises such as the English Tourist Board, English Tourism Council (with different responsibilities), and VisitEngland (with even more different responsibilities). These changes have effectively wasted a decade for English tourism. Even now, funding for VisitEngland is not ring-fenced and is at the discretion of VisitBritain which clearly has a vested interest in trying to protect its own funds in this area.
At the same time, our seaside resorts remain the most shamefully neglected part of the visitor economy. True, £45m has been allocated to some rejuvenation under the Sea Change programme, but no tourism interests have been involved in agreeing where this money goes.
In all, DCMS’s interest in, and support for tourism is so weak that there are many who believe that responsibility should be moved to another government Department – perhaps Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
In fact, I believe this would be the wrong move as tourism is inextricably linked with the country’s heritage, its attractions, and its cultural and sporting links. It is these that domestic visitors and those from overseas want to enjoy. If tourism is transferred to Business, it could descend into being just one more industry in a very large department. Far better for it to be a big fish in a small pond – but a fish whose economic importance is properly recognised.
So the most important change that the industry can expect – and will want -
from a Conservative government is to ensure that there is a Minister who is solely responsible for tourism, who leads tourism policy within DCMS and who builds up tourism expertise within the department. At present, this is entirely lacking.
DCMS appears to believe that tourism is a by-product of the other areas it funds and cannot be seen as an industry itself. This approach must surely change. Tourism is clearly the key economic driver of many regions of the country (including London) and is a significant contributor in taxes to the Treasury. Ignoring its contribution to the economy, and not taking steps to maximise it, is a folly.
Under a Conservative government, the new Tourism Minister should represent the industry across Whitehall more skillfully and more forcefully than recent experience. He (or she) will ensure that the industry’s specific – and often unique - needs are taken into account when policy is being drawn up by other government departments.
Secondly, I believe that a Conservative government will have genuine doubts
about the effectiveness of the Regional Development Agencies and will certainly take responsibility for tourism away from them. Conflating iconic and discrete tourist areas (such as the Cotswolds or the Lake District) into RDAs which stretch for many miles on either side, does little to promote tourism in the area itself.
It would be far better for voluntary associations of local government, destinations and private partners to get together to develop partnerships that can promote a specific tourist area more directly and in a more focused manner. This does not prevent them joining together to promote a natural tourist region – Pennine Prospects, across the North West and Yorkshire and Humber Region is a good example. If there is a demonstrable return on any public funding, such partnerships should be encouraged.
Thirdly, I believe a Conservative government will look to revitalise the economies of seaside resorts. Once the gem of British tourism, these have been neglected since the 1970s as more and more Britons have decided to take their holidays abroad, encouraged by cheap air travel. Few resorts can now boast of their facilities or the standards they offer.
This has not been helped by the fact that many hotel companies have avoided investing in their resort properties or, just as important, have decided not build new resort hotels because of falling holiday demand. As a result of this neglect, many older resort hotels are now homes for the homeless. Despite this, a revival may be beginning. Travelodge and Premier Inn, for example, are undertaking a significant construction programme in resorts. A growing number of boutique hotels have opened in Devon, Cornwall and in other resort areas. Many existing resort hotels and guest houses have improved and invested.
This should be encouraged and the Conservative party’s move away from regional quangos towards helping local authorities to develop partnerships will certainly help. So will plans – already announced - to allow local government to keep some increases in business rates. Such a measure will enable them to develop their local tourism economies as they wish, free from an RDA’s overriding (and occasionally misguided) diktat.
One of the most important aspects of this is the prospect of establishing Tourist Growth Zones. To be set up by local authorities to give tax incentives to encourage development and regeneration, they could have powers to purchase properties compulsorily at full market value in order to facilitate these developments.
Incentives such as these are essential; without them, there will be little development except in the most popular resorts. Others will continue to face a run-down future.
There are other measures to which I believe a Conservative government will be committed though much depends on the state of the UK economy. The potential for a London International Convention Centre is widely agreed but no progress has been made in the last four years; with sufficient support from Whitehall, this might come about.
And the Conservative Party has also pledged to re-visit the Licensing Act of 2003, though there will no let-up in the campaign against binge drinking.
If all these measures came to pass, the industry would be mightily satisfied. Only time will tell. |
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| 12 Sep 2010 |
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Hospitaly Action - Polo Day
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Discover Zadar - An Adriatic Odyssey
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| 19-21 Sep 2010 |
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Food and Drink Journalism
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Food and Drink Journalism is a two-day residential course run by Guy Dimond, Food Editor of Time Out
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