Alliance attacks VisitBritain review

Leisure Report, March, 2008

The Tourism Alliance has agreed to contribute to the tourism review currently being undertaken by VisitBritain at the request of DCMS, but said it believes the "review is fundamentally flawed and will not resolve the structural and funding problems facing tourism".

The Alliance believes that there are three main failings with the review which prevent it from providing the necessary evaluation of the structure and funding of public sector tourism support, first among which is that: "The review is not independent, and will not address the structure of public tourism funding in the UK."

The body, which represents hotels, visitor attractions, holiday and caravan parks, resorts and destinations, sport and leisure, inbound travel, heritage sites and all the main tourist regions, claims that because the government has devolved responsibility for tourism support to the nations and regions of the UK, there is no accountability for tourism funding. "National bodies are funded through the devolved administrations, while a number of government departments are responsible for funding tourism development within England. Indeed, while DCMS has statutory responsibility for tourism to Britain and within England, is not the government department that provides the majority of funding for tourism development," the Alliance said.

As a result, the control of, and accountability for, public funding for tourism in England and Britain is "disjointed and uncoordinated", said the Alliance, which it said was "evidenced by the fact that DCMS has no coherent figure for the amount of public funding that is expended on tourism marketing. Their estimate of 350m [pounds sterling] is demonstrably incorrect as it includes funding for such things as the marketing of Ireland and local authority expenditure on the maintenance of parks and gardens".

The remit of the review is for VisitBritain to assess its own the role and function within the devolved environment in which it operates and in the light of reduced resources it has been allocated. While the review may have benefits in assisting VisitBritain establish its priorities and define its role within the devolved political landscape, it will not be able to address the fundamental problem of the funding and structure of government support for tourism.

In addition, the Alliance said that cutting VisitBritain's funding by 18% before the review has been undertaken means that DCMS has already predetermined the findings--that either VisitBritain is operating in an inefficient manner or that it is undertaking activities that are not required by either the industry or government, although no evidence has been provided by DCMS to support either of these positions.

The group also warned that "DCMS has very limited ability to implement any structural changes that may be recommended as a result. There are two reasons for this. The first is that, as a result of the devolution of tourism responsibilities, neither DCMS nor Westminster has any control over the tourism structures in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales or the funding allocated to tourism through their respective administrations. As such, Westminster cannot require tourism bodies in Scotland or Wales to coordinate their activities or funding with VisitBritain.

"Secondly, within England, neither the local authorities nor the Regional Development Agencies have a statutory requirement to undertake any tourism marketing activities. Tourism development and marketing is a discretionary activity for both and, with the tight settlements that both have received, there is a significant risk that they will simply withdraw from tourism activities."

The Alliance believes that improving the co-ordination of the myriad of tourism structures and funding streams needs to be done through a review at a cross-governmental level, and that, in addition to the current VisitBritain review, government must establish an independent review of the Development of Tourism Act 1969, which sets the overall structure of tourism support in the UK and other arrangements required for efficient strategic cooperation between all key players.

"Irrespective of the findings of these reviews, there needs to be an immediate one-off allocation of 20m [pounds sterling] to VisitBritain to develop and implement the government's new tourism strategy for maximising the tourism benefits associated with hosting the 2012 Olympics. The VisitBritain board should allocate these funds as determined in consultation with the national and regional tourism agencies, through their representation at the VisitBritain board," the Alliance continued.

An independent review, combined with a one-off Olympics allocation would also allow VisitBritain's senior management to focus their energies on developing and implementing initiatives to maximise the Olympic legacy, rather than being sidetracked into undertaking a review that has little chance of addressing the fundamental issues facing the tourism industry, the Alliance concluded.