Month: September 2018
British Destinations Joint Conference 2018/19
Following the success of British Destinations 2017/18 conference which was held as a joint event with the Tourism Alliance and Tourism Society in London in March 2018, it has been agreed to hold a further joint conference event on Monday 1 April 2019 at the RAF Club 128 Piccadilly, W1J 7PY. Subject to Parliament siting on that day, it will again be followed by the industries annual Parliamentary reception.
Details of the event will follow in due course.
We are also delighted to announce that both Quality in Tourism and Global Tourism Solutions (UK) (GTS [UK]) have again agreed to join us as the joint conference partners:
GTS (UK) are a leading independent tourism research company with over 25 years’ of experience working with both the public and private sector. Their STEAM model providing timely estimates of annual value, volume and economic impact of tourism is widely used by many UK destinations and tourism organisation.
Quality in Tourism has been assessing properties and driving standards across the UK for over 15 years and they are experts in the field, offering advice, support and assessments for tourism & hospitality businesses. They are currently delivering a suite of assessments, including the initiative Safe, Clean and Legal assessment which is designed to be more than just an entry-level level scheme. Safe, Clean and Legal could, we believe, now help fill the growing gap in the market between reliance on customer reviews alone and the more traditional grading assessments approach.
Conference partners:
www.globaltourismsolutions.co.uk www.qualityintourism.com
MAC report- European Economic Area Migration in the UK
The Migration Advisory Council report commissioned by the UK Government on EEC Migration in the UK was released earlier this week. The report reviews EEC migration’s impact to date and makes recommendation on potential post Brexit migration policy. The report, together with a brief overview on tourism impacts from the Tourism Alliance, has now been added to Britishdestinations.net. It can be accessed at:
Fisheries White Paper response
Although not a mainstream tourism consultation the Fisheries White Paper does discuss future fisheries community funding and references the Coastal Community Fund which is of direct relevance to coastal tourism interests. British Destinations have taken the opportunity to major on the importance of tourism to the coast and importance of the CCF to non-fisheries communities. The aim being to ensure that Defra don’t presume that the current CCF could in part act as a substitute for the current European Maritime and Fisheries Funding support for UK Fisheries which ends post Brexit in 2020. See our response at:
It is well over time we took over tourism seriously
Over tourism – a problem of too many tourists or one of not enough management of tourism (strategy/policy issues) or of tourists (infrastructure/operational issues)? Are some UK destinations now in serious danger of accidentally smothering the golden goose or alternatively of missing the equally golden opportunity to spread the social and economic benefits more widely or over longer periods? Is this a major reputational issue and therefore one capable of causing damage well beyond those places and those times at which the peaks of over tourism actually occur?
The questions around over tourism are complex. As it seems likely that the problem will grow and spread to other destinations, these are questions that British Destinations now wish to start confronting. We are doing so in order to help prompt further debate around policy and strategic direction, infrastructure and operational matters at national through to local level. We also wish to see far more discussions around the critical (?) role of destination management in dealing with what logically appears to be a local management issue but one with significant national consequences attached.
Although not directly related to the sharing economy, the sharing accommodation sector is frequently cited as one of the factors helping to drive, over tourism, especially in popular urban destinations and Cities in particular. Rather than creating yet another main menu tab, on Britishdestinations.net, articles that relate to UK and international over tourism will now be posted in the drop-down menu under the sharing economy tab or got direct to the page of recent relevant articles at:
https://britishdestinations.net/tourism-the-sharing-economy-and-its-wider-implications/over-tourism/
Colleagues seek assistance with new print project
Colleagues at Swale are revisiting the production of print after a long absence. Can any destination or commercial member assist by offering advice, current examples or contacts? See details of the request under the “Forum: ask questions get answers” main menu tab of Britishdestinations.net, or go direct to the relevant page at:
British Destinations