State of Exmoor Tourism Industry 2009

The State of Tourism Trade during 2009... price sensitive and tough.
Just presuming "nobody can afford to go away so they are bound to holiday at home" was a Fiction Production on the part of the British Media.
I have spent 30 years in the tourism industry, never before have discounts and special offers been available during peak summer season. Without a doubt 2009 has been the toughest trading year on record.
FACT: Trade all over Southwest England has been difficult all year. The only sector not struggling is the cheaper end of the market e.g. The holiday park and C&C sector.
FACT: UK residents have still gone abroad, both Easyjet and Ryan air reported an increase in passengers numbers. When in France during September I was aware a lot of Brits were there on holiday too.
FACT: Discounts, special offers and added value extras have been available all year. This is unheard of in the self catering sector.
FACT: Late July & Early in August, a 5 minute internet search found one international, two of the biggest UK holiday cottage agencies, and most of the west country cottage letting agencies discounting vacant August weeks by 20% off the price, one offered upto 40% discount.
16th August Butlins & Pontins say they are having a wonderful season with bookings up on morning Sky TV news. The day before 15th August, the Sun newspaper carried a double page advert featuring both holiday parks advertising a Last Minute Summer Sale with offers starting from 3 nights £78pp instead of £155pp. Hmmm
FACT: On the 22nd August a BBC report ...the TUC say there has been a large increase in unemployment at seaside resorts.. Minehead Exmoor's main resort is one of the towns mentioned where unemployment is up by 110%. This huge increase is bound to be distorted by migratory young singles who prefer to live by the sea during the summer when unemployed. The winter figure will more accurately reflect the true state of affairs. When will totally out of touch Visit Britain wake up to the obvious fact UK residents are NOT having a "stay-cation" in Britain

The knock on effect on local economies re less visitor spend, must increase high street shop closures. Lack of essential winter upgrade investment by struggling tourism busnesses, will be another factor bringing increased unemployment to the southwest in the very near future.
Overall, increased global competition, lack of trade, wet weather, fragmented marketing, a failing grading system, (the majority seem to get awarded a bog standard 4 star rating, also potential guests increasingly prefer to check out the establishments online reveiws before booking a place to stay) all add up to an industry in crisis.

Will 2010 bring any improvement? Yes if the Euro continues to strengthen, Yes if the Brits who went on holiday to Europe in 2009 found it expensive. Yes if the sun shines, Yes if accommodation providers offer realistic prices.

Brand New Zealand v Brand Old Britain
I was honoured to be awarded a Winston Churchill Traveling Fellowship in 2007, which funded and opened official doors within Tourism New Zealand this allowed me to compare the marketing of New Zealand with Britain. I visited NZ during Jan and Feb 08. Below is my short report - full report to be acted on during October 2009.

Tourism... arguably the world’s oldest and biggest industry is a global economic driver. After 6 weeks looking at New Zealand tourism industry in depth, I found a nation where almost everyone who earns the tourism dollar sings in tune from the same hymn sheet. Britain’s tourism industry would do well to learn a song or two from New Zealand.
N.Z network and have a stratergy. Its a historical problem, Britain's tourism industry evolved in a fragmented unplanned way. Brand N.Z is fit for the future, Brand Britain past its sell by date.

New Zealand is marketed overseas as ONE branded destination by innovative people at Tourism New Zealand using a similar marketing budget to Visit Britain. N.Z. is domestically marketed by 8 Destination Marketing Organisation, ONE appointed body for each designated tourism area. N.Z adapted quickly to IT marketing promoting ONE superb website. The Qualmark Logo is everywhere. N.Z i-Sites are branded, well located, expected to be profitable and employ well trained logo dressed staff. Branding a county works, 100% Pure New Zealand tourism’s industry is worth 17.5 billion N.Z dollars a year, employing 1 in 10 people.

Britain
Aware of 20 years of Exmoor's tourism issues where fragmentation has been the problem above all others. However since the loss of a respected head figure, a proffessional tourism officer employed by the council, public funding has flowed down deep drains, spent on the advice of a main tourism committee (often made up of the semi-retired from other trades, serial committee seat collectors, people with their own agendas and public sector officials) The full time tourism proffessionals of which there are many in this area, quickly leave or avoid getting involved in these time consuming squabbling Hydra like committees.
Public Private Partnerships setups lack professional input and for several years on Exmoor there appeared to be almost no financial accountability, e.g accounts produced at AGMs.
When the oportunity to apply for a Winston Churchill Travel Award appeared on my doormat. I took full advantage to carry out an in depth study comparing Brand Britain with Brand New Zealand.

Shock Horror - The first thing I did, was look at Visit England's website where on the home page to my utter amazement was an unmissable top bar banner was advertising well know boating holidays on the Norfolk Broads, in... Ireland and France!
This was wholly unethical and totally unfair. Visit England's inspected accommodation providers were being betrayed for a few thousand pounds advertising fee.

Fragmentation at work.. Fragmented Devon has 8 diffrent public funded tourism groups, each marketing their own bits of Devon and a DMO to market the whole county of Devon. This fragmentation weakens the brand and actually puts Devon locations into direct competition with each other, rather than create a strong Brand Devon... this is marketing madness and a clear waste of public funding. Each country that make up the British Isles, also market their own bits of Britain to the same global customers.
However in England Visit Britain remit from Government has been to allot tourism funding to all areas of England equally, be it a northern industrial area or an area heavily and historically dependant on its tourism income, such as southwest England. This may seem fair, but must have political implications, because its not a sensible marketing policy. My conclusion, South West England has drawn a very short straw in the funding stakes over the last few years.

Recently £8 million went to Yorkshire for tourism, alledgly from a diffrent funding pot, the RDA. And South West England received ? Not sure, but so little it managed to get the CE of South West Tourism rather cross.
.

Tourism is languishing under the hobby and recreation department... Arts Media & Culture & Sport, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform would seem more appropriate for Britain's 5th biggest income earner. With a bit of "strategic vision " The Tourist Industry could be a Key driver of economic recovery.

Visit Britain 2007 budget (overseas marketing) £35.5m
( Alledgely similar funding split in 2008)
Visit Scotland £21.7m
Visit Wales £13.5m
Visit England £12.3m
Northern Ireland Tourist Board approx £5m

Total approx £88m ( NOTE! not sure where this sum was spent )

Source Conservative Party Website

Why is England only allotted roughly half the funding of Scotland and less than Wales?

My 2008 report concluded fragmentation exists at both local and national level. Britain's Tourism industry is broken and requires radical reform and re branding. Everything has changed ... Britain's tourism industry lacks a strategy fit the age of the internet, lacks a tourism minster, lacks proffessional input, lacks infrastructure investment in coastal resorts...lacks private sector marketing... lacks a strong Brand Britain.

Tamara Cody-Boutcher (2007 Tourism ) Tel 01643841247
Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Travel Award www.wnct.org.uk

Pease do not plaguerise this report, only use it to effect change.

Previous reports. I quote an economic fact, taken from 2007 reasearch. UK residents spend £15bn more abroad each year than overseas tourists spend in Britain, further expansion of UK airports will lead to an annual deficit of £30bn by 2020" This situation is totally unsustainable.

Changing Tourism Trade: Two million UK residents have moved or bought a second home abroad, 50,000 have purchased a motorhome mostly to tour Europe. In Britain we have ignored the need for stopovers and aires. Home owners use equity release to fund luxury overseas holidays and cruises. Asset rich many pensioners are, but suffering from juggling a low return of interest on savings against increasing household bills. Mature holidaymakers were the backbone of the southwest's early and late season trade, many are getting too old to travel, broke or backpacking to all corners of the globe. UK holidaymakers can journey to European destinations cheaper and faster than driving to the West Country.

Away from London, visitors from overseas have been declining for years. The UK is an expensive destination, even free car parking abroad is the norm. In 2005 Visit Britain reported that England had a record amount of tourists from abroad. People in the trade outside London could only wonder? Did all these overseas visitors stay in London, were they visitors from Asia Pacific region staying with relatives, or were migrant workers included in the head count? October 2007, Visit Britain reported a 13% year-on-year drop in tourists to the UK. As I said 3 years ago - maybe migrants were included in previous years head count or somebody at HQ can't count.

The Tourism Trade problems. A government who is hell bent on heaping more legislation and bureaucracy upon everyone, while encouraging huge regional airport expansion, in order to satisfy the short trips abroad demand. This unsustainable policy is damaging to the environment, conservation, local communities and the United Kingdom's tourist trades long term viability. The boom in air travel is already and will continue to have a bad effect on the southwest's economy.

Many southwest resorts are in need of top quality indoor leisure facilities to extend the shoulder seasons and provide something to do indoors during increasing wet summers due to global warming.

Tourism's Increasing Legislation and Costs: Accommodation providers now have to comply with the disability discrimination act, the draconian licensing act, annual gas and electrical safety checks. Children are not allowed out of school during term time, increasing demand for peak season weeks, but putting slack into the mid season trade, when families took advantage of cheaper holidays. Increases in business rates, fuel, taxes, employment costs, rubbish removal, environmental charges, insurance, building costs in fact everything.

Yet many in the trade are unable to increase price away from peak weeks, due to too much capacity. Tourism businesses must upgrade constantly, in order to fulfil visitor expectations in order to stay in business, to pay the taxes that pay the public sectors wages. Why aren't Europeans flying here on low cost flights? Is England being actively marketed abroad? When did you last hear an MP of any party mention tourism, since the horrors of Foot and Mouth, tourism is the forgotten industry.

It's time to rethink the marketing of Brand Britain which is fragmented and wasteful at local and national levels, not fit for purpose in the day of Internet Marketing... Britain's tourism product needs a ... Strength of Brand Britain. Britain must to be more pro-actively sold, especially overseas in the face of increasing online global competition. And to replace the declining stay at home market who now have aquired a taste for global travel. Other countries do not fragment themselves, but sell themselves as one country - this country is The British Isles... Brand Britain

Rebrand Britain using Britain's USBs - unique selling points. A thousand years of history and tradition a great landscape, an easy to get to crossroads for global travellers. Scotland, Wales, England and Northern Ireland together make up The British Isles .... Together sold in one branded way - they make for a world beating destination. By booking advance low cost flights, an any visitor can fly cheaply from Scotland, North Wales or Northern Ireland to the south of England in a hour or so. Visitors coming from overseas often want to explore all of Britain, why on earth are these individual British countries in direct competition with one another?

It's an old fashioned outdated marketing policy in the days of all important.. Brand strength. As Google and Tesco's solid performance during the worst economic period since the 1930s prove.

Brand Britain requires a new Logo ancient, historic strong, inviting and reconised instantly by all as representing - Britain - only one fits the bill - Stonehenge.

State of Britain's Tourism Industry 2009 - Britain Accommodation Websites