NOVEMBER 2020, ISSUE 12
The official e-journal of the Tourism Society
EDITORS NOTES
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
By Dr Julian Zarb FTS
GRAHAM WASON FTS DISRUPTION IN THE SELF-
Welcome to our last e-journal of 2020. In this edition we have asked the Tourism Society chairs of the 21st century to reflect on the first 20 years of the century and the road ahead! This year has, ironically, been a turning point for the tourism industry.
At the beginning of the year I was in
Cardiff where I was awarded my Doctorate and at that time I saw the coming year as a new chapter in terms of my career and profession. Three months down the road and a global tragedy started to unfold. Travel and tourism faced the first complete global shutdown in a hundred years - this affected national economies, businesses, employment and careers. At a
CATERING SECTOR DAVID CURTIS-BRIGNELL, MBE FTS - 2 DECADES ON... ALISON CRYER FTS - 21ST CENTURY TOURISM WITH 2020 VISION
time like this we need to ensure that those who are committed to the tourism activity - the entrepreneur, the professional and the employee
SANDRA MATHEWS-MARSH
who have chosen this industry as their career, are motivated and remain
MBE FTS - PARTNERSHIP AND
committed. Professional associations like the Tourism Society will be working to bring members together at this time to ensure that the tourism activity which will bounce back after Covid 19 will be more resilient, sustainable and responsible and will focus on quality rather than quantity, it will focus on the person who wants to be at a destination rather than the one who happens to be there; even for tourism "tomorrow will be a
LEADERSHIP HAYLEY BEER-GAMAGE, FTS EVERYTHING COMES IN THREES
better day".
KEVIN KALEY FTS - 20 YEARS Stay safe and Take Care.
OF CONSULTING IN A CHANGING LANDSCAPE
NOVEMBER 2020, ISSUE 12
DISTRUPTION IN THE SELFCATERING INDUSTRY By Graham Wason FTS, TCN The first vicennium of the 21st century is coming to an end. Twenty years to someone my age doesn’t seem that long.
Yet
change
since
the
year
2000
has
been
phenomenal. In common with 44% of UK households I had a computer in the year 2000 which, with its 35 cm deep monitor, occupied much of my desk. The Internet existed but access meant dialling up from a telephone; if that succeeded, it took 15 minutes to download a 6 MB file compared with 2 seconds today. In 1997 I retired from partnership in Deloitte’s global tourism consulting division, taking with me responsibility for the Cut Tourism VAT Campaign. More of that later. In 1999, I joined the World Travel & Tourism Council as Vice President of Strategy & Development. Our mission: to raise awareness of tourism’s growing contribution to the global economy. In the year 2000 there were 682 million international tourist arrivals; by the year 2019 there were 1.5 billion, a rise of 120%. In the first six months of 2020, international tourism declined by 65%. It’s a relief that I’m no longer in the business of tourism forecasting! Also in 1997, I opened what remained of Cossington Park in Somerset, an estate that has been in my family for 400 years, to overnight guests. In 2000 we took three guests per night. In 2020, we are a five-star award-winning home taking groups of 6 to 25 family and friends for self-catering stays.
The past 20 years has seen huge growth in the volume and quality of UK self-catering accommodation. But this barely compares with the growth of Airbnb, both a competitor and contributor to the success of Cossington Park. It started in 2007 when two American students rented out three airbeds in their apartment. It took four years, many rejections by potential funders and a name change from Airbed and Breakfast to Airbnb before the concept took off. In the last 10 years the company has grown to more than six million rooms, flats and houses in 81,000 cities worldwide. And whilst we haven’t matched that growth, Airbnb’s evolution from accommodation to experience provider mirrors that of Cossington Park and tourism generally. The year 2020 has disrupted self-catering as well as global tourism. But UK tourism has arguably enjoyed one success
this
year.
VAT
on
visitor
accommodation,
attractions and out-of-home meals has been reduced to 5%, making the UK fiscally competitive with every other European country (except Denmark). And whilst a global pandemic has provided the trigger, financial modelling and lobbying by the Cut Tourism VAT Campaign (£2.5 million’s worth over 27 years) provided HM Treasury with an ‘oven-ready’ measure to support tourism during crisis. However. the Campaign’s work is unfinished: the UK Government must be persuaded to retain tourism VAT at 5% - in good times as well as bad - to ensure its price competitiveness in the future.
Graham served on the TS Board for 12 years including a term as Chairman, in 2001-4.
NOVEMBER 2020, ISSUE 12
2 DECADES ON...
During my first term a conversation at BTTF about the
By David Curtis-Brignell MBE, FTS, TCN
Government led to British Tourism Week. I subsequently
need to raise the profile of domestic tourism with became joint chair of the Steering Group with Bernard Donoghue. Transferring to VE, I chaired 10 English Tourism Weeks. In 2015 Visit Kent won a contract as part of their future sustainability plan. Sandra Matthews-Marsh asked me to establish a new DMO in Hertfordshire. Following a trade launch at Knebworth Visit Herts went from strength to strength. Aided by Sean Owens MTS we attracted funding, set up events and took stakeholders through the branding process. The website immediately won an award and we were supported by a steering group under the amazing Martha Lytton Cobbold (Knebworth) and Dan
in 2000 I was in my third year with Millennium &
Dark (Warner Bros).
Copthorne Hotels (M&C) nurturing a new short-break product, loyalty and airline programmes and a new
Visit Herts was structured in a way that Kent was not as
website
Global
the latter was 13 years old and times had changed.
Distribution Systems were important and after 9/11 there
Sandra asked me to re-engineer Kent introducing the
was increased dependence on Online Travel Agencies
philosophy
(OTAs).
Managers were appointed to ensure we were talking to
with
on-line
booking.
Teletext
and
working
in
Hertfordshire.
Destination
stakeholders and delivering their needs, not what we In successive crises - the 2005 bombings, financial crash of
2008
and
Managers
Covid,
repeated
new the
generations
of
Revenue
cannibalisation
of
existing
We established GoToPlaces as the not-for-profit vehicle for consultancy, DMPs, research etc. As Deputy CEO for
business. Performance from 2000 – 2009 peaked in 2007 but tourism was identified as a key driver of the economy post-crash. Regional hotels experienced occupancy rates of 66% in 2009 and 76% in 2019. OTAs became “the competition” and ‘direct booking’ was Holy Grail.
CBE (our equivalent of the Attorney General) we made changes to the Council – now Board – and my first tenure involved stabilising finances, and included driving the removal Transit from Shadwell to Sutton. We supported the 2012 Games bid - I helped craft the formula that would contract 30,000 hotel rooms. Under 24hrs after the was
in
BBC
coverage
of
the
Singapore
announcement, the London bombings hit domestic travel. At M&C I was getting involved in development and management contracts and dealing with the aftermath of the November 2006 Litvinenko poisoning. I took over as Chair again in 2012 and with Sandra Matthews-Marsh created the new Tourism Symposium format in Liverpool, Canterbury etc.
the three ‘companies’ I was helping to lead a team delivering great things to stakeholders and partners across England. I have been very proud of the achievements in both my professional and ‘voluntary’ life. I have been lucky to
I became TS Chair in 2004. Together with Ken Robinson
Society
assumed they needed.
employ and mentor very bright people who have gone on to great things. My advice has been to get involved, not just in the job, but the industry. Volunteer, read, attend events and network. And finally – Covid-19. Several DMOs have already disappeared. In Kent needed to make savings and in October
I
decided
to
take
voluntary
redundancy,
coincidentally my last day being the Monday following the announcement of my MBE*. But this is not the end. I have ideas. I will be back! David was awarded the MBE in the 2020 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to tourism. This is in recognition for the ‘decades’ of work for the Tourism Society and for British and English Tourism Weeks. He served on the TS board from 1997 to 2017.
NOVEMBER 2020, ISSUE 12
21ST CENTURY TOURISM
The
WITH 2020 VISION
sex marriages, Me Too, Black Lives Matter…all forcing
ever World War was experienced and the first Global Pandemic the Spanish Flu. Post World War 2, tourism as we know it today, kicked-off thanks to Mr. Thomas Cook, and the availability of air, sea and rail travel. By the last quarter of the century the UK had joined the ECC (later EU) and AIDS was prevalent. Today Thomas Cook is being reinvented, as the PLC group went into receivership in 2019. Britain has exited the EU. The world is fighting a common and global enemy Covid-19. While the 21st in
new
thinking,
sustainability,
responsible
tourism,
brands to innovate from within.
Within the first two decades of the 20th century the first
brings
of
wellness and social & cultural respect: LGBTQIA, same
By Alison Cryer FTS, TCN
century
impact
collaboration
and
partnerships - are we learning from 2020 hindsight, will we achieve zero emissions in time?
My four year period as chairman (2007-2011) showed me the value of purpose, giving, networking, partnerships, collaboration and leadership. The level of networking, expertise and knowledge sharing the Tourism Society can provide across the industry is unique and continues to be as the "Brain Trust" for Tourism for all. As the second female Chair in 35 years and first to complete their full term I was blessed with a dynamic and supportive, exec com., board and Executive Director, Flo Powell.
Together we left the Society with substantial
funds for the future and over 20 corporate partners having brought a sponsorship program in at the right time, turning the Journal into a magazine, introducing ta
I was introduced to the Tourism Society at the end of the 20th century as I set-up my integrated marketing agency, Representation Plus. At the time my main focus was helping overseas destinations, hotel groups and attractions to develop their international markets and in particular African and Caribbean destinations to develop tourism ethically and sustainably to alleviate poverty.
website, increasing the secretariat to staff and moving back to London. Managing the secretariat, by Spring 2020 we had set-up the TSPRN and were introducing the TSDN, weekly Virtual Think Tanks, almost daily covid briefings. As a result the board produced a lobbying paper on the review of DMO structures and funding (currently being used by
The 20th century left us with online travel agents, online training, social media, industry M&As, homeworkers, a global growth in theme parks and all-inclusive resorts, an extensive list of places to visit, low-cost, eurostar and eurotunnel and terrorism. On 01/01/2000 many expected to see the world-wide web, computers and networks collapse, but it didn't happen. Instead, a major outbreak of flu did. A year later we witnessed 9/11, followed a couple years later by SARS, the Boxing Day Tsunami and 20 years on we are experiencing the second Global Pandemic; covid-19, an advanced strain of SARS. All of these incidents have affected the Tourism
the
Tourism
Advisory
Council),
which
we
secured
interviews on SKY TV and radio for the Chair. This new virtual norm has also led me to pivot my business and develop "ezy" a virtual events and virtual office platform who would have imagined that 8 months ago! Hindsight is a great thing – Vision 2020 was all about growth in tourism for all, to combat poverty as a leading economic driver in essence to save lives. The 2040/50 Vision of 0% emissions is even more crucial to achieve if we wish to save the planet. It is our duty, as the world’s 2nd most important industry, to review, innovate and restructure the industry to achieve this vision.
Industry and shaped its future. In the 21st century tourism marketing has had to remain agile and adapt to numerous innovations and trends from wide bodied aircrafts, AIRBNB, Mr & Mrs Smith, UBER, electric and hybrid vehicles and bikes, to adsmart, bots, AI, VR, mobile phone marketing, webinars and virtual events. Marketing
has
shifted
from
socio-demographic
to
generational marketing, the influence of Baby-boomers moving to Millennials, inter-generational and Gen Z. Bucket list and destination collectors have evolved into experiential travellers, with the arrival of the “influencer”
Alison served on the board from 2007 to 2019.
NOVEMBER 2020, ISSUE 12
PARTNERSHIP AND
magical moments. Pavarotti, Elton and Tony Bennett came
LEADERSHIP
sponsor our Classical concerts was a first along with
to play at Leeds Castle and a tie up with Waitrose to launching the Castles first website and booking system in
By Sandra Mathews-Marsh MBE, FTS
early 2000s. At Visit Kent, a new kind of model for tourism
As President -elect Biden steps up to become the “Leader of the free World” his predecessor is finding it hard handing over the reigns. Biden says that his mission is to unite and heal divisions and 24 hours after winning the vote THE key issue of Covid 19 and ushering in partnership appear to be top of the agenda.
As lockdown #2 starts
over 4 years after the UK’s vote to Leave the EU negotiators are working frantically, with everyone hanging onto the frayed and thin bonds of partnership, to get to the
emerged and vital funding grew from businesses and Local Authorities secured over 20 years. This in turn levered in millions
of
euros
of
EU
funding.
With
dozens
of
multinational European partners – working across different languages, cultures, creating development
to drive the
visitor economy and support wise growth.
We learnt so
much from each other and I had a fantastic team. The steady growth of tourism in Kent has been a highlight.
deal to take us out of this toxic wrangle.
Out of this emerged Visit Herts, led with incredible energy
These are mighty issues. Decades after the late Professor
introduced me the Tourism Society and supported my
by
Victor Middleton proved that, in spite of it’s delicate ecosystem, the visitor economy is an “actual thing”,
finally
there is true recognition that tourism and hospitality are drivers of hope, community and jobs and that both partnership and thought leadership are the vital ingredients
fellow TS Chair David Curtis- Brignell.
David
journey to become Vice Chair and Chairman.
also
In turn
handing over to the dynamic Hayley Beer- Gammage a few years later. I look back on the Society’s many educational events, Conferences and Symposia with great warmth. I have travelled far and wide in my career so far and made
for successful people and places.
many friends and so I think of all my DMO colleagues every
For 35 years working alongside Chairmen and stunning
of teams from apprentices to experienced tourism war
day at the moment. I also recall with fondness the diversity
partners firstly in Sussex and then in Kent and all over the UK I know that Kent’s visitor economy could not have outpaced the growth and value of competing destinations without this framework,
advocacy and drive.
Research
shows that over 2 decades Kent’s image changed, along with visitation type and standing becoming a more viable all year round short breaks destination for millions of both UK and international visitors . The job of the Destination Manager is part artist, part alchemist and part scientist. In leadership roles for a regional Tourist Board, at a major tourist attraction (Leeds Castle) and at two county wide DMOs (Visit Kent and Visit Herts) I have travelled at lot and also witnessed some .
horses. There will be plenty of fresh debates to have once a vaccination for C-19 has been found. How can we: Deliver a sustainable food chain without sacrificing the planet? Avoid the dark days of over tourism? Make tourism’s carbon load more accountable? Square the debate about value and volume? And finally frame a decent tourism policy framework The
Tourism
Society
and
the
visitor
economy
have
instinctively attracted individuals who think creatively. The sector will come back and embrace change. I’m sure the future will lie in debate.
If the immense body
of knowledge and thought leadership within the academic world is partnered far more effectively with the real-time, lived experience of tourism professionals, the future is safe. At the moment the knowledge base, the skilled businesses and the policy-makers seem too far apart. So now is the time for the highest order of leadership and partnership.
Sandra served on the board from 2011 to 2019
NOVEMBER 2020, ISSUE 12
EVERYTHING COMES IN
Hayley was “a fantastic” Vice Chair to Sandra along with
THREES
refine the core offering of the Tourism Society at a
HAYLEY BEER-GAMAGE
exercise from Sandra and introduced a new fresh corporate
By Alison Cryer, FTS & Sandra Matthews-Marsh, MBE, FTS
identity designed by M&C Saatchi.
Kevin Kaley who both helped to structure a workshop to challenging time, she took over the reins of a re-branding
She attracted a great number of new members and corporate sponsors to the Society helping fund core activities and bringing a youthful new perspective, she also had the most amazing wardrobe and heels! Running a large and successful DMO Experience Oxfordshire as CEO she led (and still does) one of the UKs top flight Destination organisations so, at the time, also had a very busy day job. She and Kevin made a great team. It was not always plain sailing, it never is as the Chair of a Society, and Hayley also inherited the departure of the TMI from the Tourism Society at a time when DMOs needed to "Joining the Tourism Society early in my destination management career was one of the best decisions I made. It opened up my own learning, networks and development. I was delighted to be asked to stand for the board back in 2011 by David Curtis-Brignell, was then honoured to be asked by Sandra Matthews-Marsh to be her vice chair and it was an absolute privilege to be elected as Chair of the Society subsequently. I was delighted to be part of the Society’s 40th anniversary celebrations and hope that the organisation goes on to celebrate many more decades of success as it pivots and adapts to the changing external environment. I am grateful for the knowledge and expertise that I gained through the Society but perhaps more importantly the friendships that I have gained along the way. I will continue to be a strong supporter of the Society and know it is great hands under the leadership of Kevin Kaley and Alison Cryer."
just
after
she
became
CEO
of
She successfully
oversaw the restructuring of the secretariat and her resilience and leadership had the overwhelming support of the board and agreement by Kevin to succeed her as Chair. We have a lot in common with Hayley; a love of shoes, an enjoyment of a good glass of wine or even better champagne, the determination to succeed even if it means putting in all the hours God gave us, plus for Alison, her first job in tourism in France. Most importantly we are the three female Chairs of this century of a Society who had only ever had one female Chair for just one year previously. We are part of a new “inclusive” era and Society that has and will continue to embrace this that we are all still passionate about and actively support. Hayley has the benefit of time on her side and the Tourism Society
Hayley Beer-Gamage FTS, became chair of the Tourism Society
collaborate rather than work in silo.
will
no
doubt
continue
to
witness
achievements from her in the future.
Experience
Oxfordshire taking on two big responsibilities at the same time. She more than rose to the challenge. Well placed having spent 9 years at West Oxfordshire District Council, six as Director Oxfordshire Cotswolds and 5 years on the board of Tourism South East. As CEO she is currently battling the fallout of covid-19 for the industry and DMOs. Hayley has witnessed first-hand the drastic changes as shift from RDAs to DMOS has had on the industry and we look forward to her thoughts on the future of DMOs in the New Year and Decade’s edition of the journal.
Hayley served on the board from 2013 to 2020
great
NOVEMBER 2020, ISSUE 12
20 YEARS OF CONSULTING
From a consultancy point of view business could not have
IN A CHANGING
been better too.
RDA’s had large budgets and wanted
LANDSCAPE
invested heavily in product development studies.
By Kevin Kaley FTS, TCN
However, the RDAs needed to build exit strategies and to
strategies for everything. Their tourism teams grew and they
remove themselves from on-going funding and so these new ventures were encouraged to try and find ways to become more commercial. In 2010 with the arrival of the Cameron Clegg coalition the sector learned that the RDAs were to be closed down. The One Northeast annual report at that time stated ‘Budget cuts at One North East have had a significant impact. Visit Tees Valley has closed, County Durham Tourism has been absorbed
into
Durham
County
Council
andNewcastle
Gateshead Initiative has taken over some of the activity previously delivered by Tourism Tyne and Wear, following its In
1999
I
left
Scottish
Enterprise,
the
economic
development agency for Scotland to set up Tourism UK, a consultancy practice specialising in tourism economic development. For the first few years Scotland remained a major source of work as the enterprise network invested heavily in tourism related projects.
being formed and so my client base in England leaned towards Local Authorities, where I worked on tourism strategies, event strategies and feasibility studies. In 1999 the English Tourist Board was replaced with a smaller more strategic body, the English Tourism Council and as part of the government’s new strategy, the 10 English regional tourist boards were told to work with the RDAs to define local strategic priorities as part of a new regional approach. In the early noughties tourism structures and funding models across the UK started to change. In the North East the RDA led the closure of Northumbria Tourist Board in 2004 and replaced it with ATPs for Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, County Durham and Tees Valley. Consultants employed
to
write
business
plans
for
these
organisations and I was commissioned to work with Northumberland ATP to review implementation and help define what businesses might want out of their ATP. The RDAs quickly became more involved in tourism and in some areas, such as the North East of England, this brought economy.
new
significant
investment
in
the
tourism
Tourism did well out of the RDAs; for example,
North East England ran a national TV campaign, something that Northumbria Tourist Board could have never afforded. .
greatly reduced capacity. The future of the delivery of regional tourism is unclear. The role of national organisations such as VisitEngland and VisitBritain in regional promotion going forward also remains unclear.’ So having dismantled a largely public funded tourist board in
In England Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) were
were
closure. The role of Northumberland Tourism continues in a
the North East to create new Area Tourism Partnerships, and Destination Management Organisations, the RDAs were themselves closed. market
shrank
From a consultancy perspective the
significantly.
Many
consultants
looked
overseas for work. Others, like my own practice combined overseas
consultancy
work
with
studies
for
the
local
authorities and moved into different areas such as Heritage Lottery Fund projects and business plans. While some of the DMOs and ATPs survived, others didn’t, or became so small as to not to be able to deliver change. What was left is what we have today; a fragmented English tourism structure, with a surprisingly low level (given its contribution to GVA) of government support. Kevin is the current TS Chair and has served on the board since 2014. He has streamlined the society's board and secretariat to meet the changing world of trade associations.