Month: January 2014
Welsh Government Consultation on Regional engagement partnership structures in the tourism sector
Apologies; the correct link to this important consultation regarding engagement partnership structures in Wales is:
Seaside Tourism in England & Wales report update.
The latest update on the forthcoming new report on Seaside Tourism in England and Wales, including a urgent appeal for additional support, can be found at:
http://britishdestinations.net/599-2/seaside-tourism-in-england-wales-report-update/
This will be of direct interest to all coastal destinations, coastal counties, Cities and rural coastal areas in England and Wales. It may be of passing interest to other coastal and non-coastal tourism interests.
Welsh Government Consultation on Regional engagement partnership structures in the tourism sector
The Welsh Government Consultation on Regional engagement partnership structures in the tourism sector, which closes on 27 February 2014, can be accessed at (corrected link detail):
Notes of the Tourism Alliance meeting with Helen Grant MP, DCMS Minister for Tourism
Along with other Tourism Board members and representatives of Tourism Alliance membership I attended a meeting with Helen Grant the relatively new DCMS Tourism Minister on 23 January 2014.
We were all given an opportunity to give a flavour of a key concern in half a dozen words. I said that we echoed comments made by others around destinations management (structures/funding/public/private sector engagement etc.) and then offered the tourism dimension of the future of the UK high street as possibly the most pressing and least recognised, universally applicable, tourism issue, (rural, urban , coast, City, heritage/market town…) especially in light of the forthcoming business rate review in England and Wales. The Minister willingly acknowledged this concern. In later conversation the importance of the Coastal Community Fund with plus 50% of grants going to tourism was also mentioned by the Minister. Not something that is dear to everyone hearth but critical to coastal tourism. This is one of a number of detailed comments which isn’t necessarily fully reflected in what is intended as a short summary note of key points.
The Tourism Alliance note can be accessed in our corporate website subpage on Minutes and other Board and Meeting Papers from Strategic Partner Organisations. This is a protected page needing the login available to all British Destination members. In addition the paper is caveated as being for British Destinations Members’ Information, not for wider distribution.
Nothing sinister here, it is simply that all Tourism Alliance meeting are held on an informal, semi confidential basis, and in addition as memberships body (like us) they can’t afford to simply give away access to core membership benefits. Members of British Destinations are getting access to the information because British Destinations are representing you on, and paying membership fee to, the Tourism Alliance.
It is probably also worth saying that the Minister has an impressive grasp on the issues at this early stage. This suggesting that she probably already understood many of the complexities and isn’t therefore going to waste too much time learning the ropes or being influenced by some of the more plausible but impracticable ideas that circulate in our industry. She may have come to the appointment relatively late in the life of this Parliament but there is every prospect that she can still make a considerable difference in the time available to her.
Latest on free membership promotional benefits:
British Destinations’ featured destination in January Coach Monthly is Oulton Broad. This is a great example of a member whose principal destination has been recently feature coming up with an attractive piece that Coach Monthly were more than happy to run with. Well done Waveney DC and the team at sunrisecoast:
http://www.coachmonthly.com/Coach%20Monthly%20Issues/CM-January-2014/#/42/
Members can access detail of how they can be feature in this free member benefit at:
https://britishdestinations.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=332&action=edit
Update on the Coastal Community Fund (CCF)
A briefing note on the latest position regarding the delayed round 2 announcements in England and future plans for round 3 (2014/15) in all 4 home countries is given in our corporate site:
http://britishdestinations.net/599-2/coastal-communities-fund-update/
UK Assisted Area Map Consultation closing 7 February
Detail of the second stage consultation document on the draft proposal for a new assisted areas map for the period 2014 to 2020 can be accessed at: http://britishdestinations.net/consultation-responses/open-consultations/uk-assisted-area-map-consultation-closing-7-february/
Even if you do not wish, or unable to comment, the interactive mapping acts as a useful and rapid overview of where and, thus, potentially who and what in the UK might be eligible for state development funding between 2014 and 2020.
Our webpage also mentions the need to ensure tourism’s role in the economic base is promoted and properly recognised in this process, so that where regional aid is available, tourism then gets a chance of obtaining a fair share of it.
Future of the Staycation report:
New qualitative research into the future of the Staycation has been published by VisitEngland (findings have wider UK utility?). The summary and full reports are available at:
http://britishdestinations.net/research-and-statistics/the-future-of-the-staycation-2014/
Two European Commission Tourism Consultations
The European Commission’s Tourism Unit has issued two consultations on the future of EU tourism policy that you and/or local tourism businesses may wish to respond to (closing 15 March). More detail and direct links can be found at:
New question on the use of Apps posted:
Dave Mason Worthing and Adur seeks some background on who’s doing what with Apps in other destinations .
Recently posted questions on cycle hire schemes and sponsorship of infrastructure are also still very much live.
Click the highlighted links above or hover over the “Find answers here:” tab in the main menu to access the individual questions.
Your assistance is appreciated and any help given will be reciprocated, if and when you need to find answers yourself.
Any lesson learnt from these questions will also be made available to the membership in due course.
British Destinations