SEPTEMBER 2020, ISSUE 11
The official e-journal of the Tourism Society
EDITORS NOTES By Julian Zarb FTS Welcome to another edition of the e-journal. During these surreal times, it is no wonder that the central theme to this edition focuses
WHAT'S INSIDE THIS ISSUE: NICK LOMAS MTS - THE CARAVAN AND CAMPING
on re-developing and re-starting tourism.
INDUSTRY
Chair of the Tourism Society, Kevin Kaley, considers the objections,
KEVIN KALEY FTS - THINK
outcomes and the way forward after a successful series of Think
TANKS
Tanks in May and June this year; there is an interesting article concerning the importance of reviewing, redeveloping and restoring tourism today, which could be applied to any destination particularly mature destinations such as Malta and Gozo, where the threat of overtourism and sustainability had been growing right up to March
JULIAN ZARB FTS - MALTA TOURISM REVIEW
this year.
DEIRDRE WELLS OBE, MTS -
Nikki Nichols explains the process that was adopted by the Caravan
BACK TO ‘BEFORE’?
BACK TO ‘BETTER’ OR
and Motorhome Club to enhance the concept of “staycations” and Deirdre Wells looks at how we can open tourism again – either by going back to the old industry or by looking at a better way of managing tourism.
JULIAN ZARB FTS RESILIENCE THROUGH AN INTEGRATED APPROACH
SEPTEMBER 2020, ISSUE 11
THE EFFECTS OF COVID ON
remain hopeful we can continue to trade for longer this
THE CARAVAN AND
shoulder periods will be fuller than normal and so are able
CAMPING INDUSTRY By Nikki Nichol MTS
season. It remains to be seen whether open sites in the to operate economically. During the time that our members were unable to tour in the leisure vehicles, we worked very hard to ensure we maintained engagement with members via virtual events and also helped them to make the most of their membership while they were at home with relevant member offers and money saving opportunities from our partners and interesting content on our website and social media platforms. Since reopening we have seen a huge increase in people wanting to holiday in the UK in leisure vehicles. Bookings for 2020 are very healthy and we are seeing this trend continuing to 2021 which is also achieving high levels of bookings. We believe that post Brexit, and post COVID, there will be a return to people venturing overseas, but we also believe the UK holiday will firmly
The Caravan and Motorhome Club represents a million
remain on holidaymakers' agendas for some years to
members and operates the largest network of campsites
come.
in the UK. The Club has been in existence since 1907 and has over 200 Club operated locations and a further 2,300
The benefits of outdoor holidays were highlighted in a
smaller sites (Certificated Locations) operated mostly by
recent report from the UK Caravan and Camping Alliance
farmers and small rural businesses. This means that
(‘UKCCA’*), which concluded health and wellbeing had
holiday makers do not have to travel large distances to
improved for visitors who reported doing more exercise
find a campsite, on average there is a site every 20
and feeling more relaxed while on a holiday park or
square miles. In normal circumstances visitors to these
campsite. The same report also confirms that holiday
sites spend some £700,000,000 pa in rural communities.
parks and campsites around the UK support 171,448 full-
However our members can follow their leisure activity in
time employees – so not only are touring holidays hugely
a self-contained manner, with all of their own supplies
beneficial for individual wellbeing, they are a significant
and amenities within their outfit, thereby having a low
contributor to local economies and wider UK economy.
impact on the area they visit. The average party size of our members is 2.7 people from the same household and
The Club has also experienced record-breaking levels of
on average they stay for a few days at a time.
new members joining and we foresee the ‘staycation’ remaining a popular choice for the foreseeable future,
The majority of campsites closed in November and were
which bodes well for UK manufacturing, hospitality and
then only open for a matter of days before lockdown
the rural tourism economy.
commenced. As an industry we joined together to lobby for the safe and early opening of campsites in England, with Scotland and Wales following shortly thereafter. We went through the process of re-closing the campsite network and then a phased reopening across the UK post-lockdown.The Club liaised with Visit Britain, Tourism Alliance and other campsite operators to ensure best practice operating, cleansing and safety protocols were developed to ensure we were COVID Secure when we reopened our campsites. All of this has added to costs and a huge additional burden on our site teams. We are unable to recover the lost business from the lockdown period in the remaining short season, but
SEPTEMBER 2020, ISSUE 11
THINK TANKS
slightly less frequent basis. The plan for the remainder of
By Kevin Kaley FTS, TCN
suggest topics and to run events to appeal to our
the year includes inviting our chapters and members to members' varied interests. We are currently developing
On the first of April this year, the Tourism Society hosted
our programme,so watch this space for more information.
its first virtual Think Tank session. Our aim was to bring
In the meantime, on 9 September, our topic is DMOS. We
together our network of members and share knowledge
have invited speakers from a number of destinations to
and information at a time when life was changing daily. At
return to the topic while we keep up the pressure on
that time, we didn’t know how many people would attend,
government to conduct an inquiry into tourism structures
nor how long we would continue to run the events; but we
in England.
MALTA TOURISM REVIEW By Julian Zarb FTS For an island that has experienced growth in the tourism industry over the past thirty years from one million visitors to two point seven million visitors per year, an island that has come to depend on tourism for 25% of of its GDP and indeed an island where evidence of tourist presence is everywhere you look, the sudden shutdown across the world of travel and tourism brought with it a number of social and economic issues. Perhaps like other destinations, Malta was a little over eager to reopen and restart tourism again. knew we needed to do something. I was delighted that our first meeting attracted nearly 30 members and the feedback we received on the need for such events was very positive. From there, the Think Tank sessions grew and grew, with weekly attendance sometimes reaching nearly 70 delegates. We enjoyed interviewing speakers from Alexander Palace and Chester Zoo. We heard from the hospitality sector, the attractions and venues and our discussions covered a broad range of industries that were from the tourist sector. We were joined one week by ANTOR, and we had a presentation from BVA BDRC on consumer insights into attitudes, behaviours and plans in relation to travel. Sessions were chaired by our board members, by guests and on occasion by our President Lord Thurso. We had a European session with representatives from three European countries, but for me perhaps the highlight was to have the Tourism Alliances of Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland all sharing insights into issues and strategies to support the tourism sector. In August, we took a rest from the sessions and developed our future strategy. With such positive member feedback, we have decided to continue the Think Tank sessions on a
The concept of "safe corridors" and "bridges" was too tempting to resist but the threat of a second wave was looming on the horizon. The problem was that travel and tourism has not been the same since March; people are looking for ways to escape the lockdowns and restrictions rather than seeking experiences based on relaxation and peace of mind. Re-opening tourism after this pandemic has been brought under control and travel is again a safe and responsible activity to undertake, is widely discussed on virtual meetings, conferences and seminars. But these plans need to follow three key steps - Reflect, Redevelop and Restore (the three R's for Re-Opening).
SEPTEMBER 2020, ISSUE 11
BACK TO ‘BETTER’ OR BACK
and the corporate events industry - particularly for those
TO 'BEFORE'?
the corporate market.
By Deirdre Wells OBE, MTS.
With consumers generally wanting to stay closer to home
accommodation providers and venues heavily reliant on
due to worries about catching Covid-19 and growing All across the UK, those in charge of the recovery of their
concerns about personal finances, destinations also need
local or regional visitor economy realistically face huge,
to think about how they can provide local, cost effective
ongoing challenges due to the impact of COVID-19.
and authentic experiences and breaks.
Go To Places uniquely manages two DMOs (Kent and
There are a number of things that can help destinations
Hertfordshire) in addition to undertaking consultancy work
with these challenges such as: ensuring that governance
for other destinations across the UK on a not for profit
structures to deliver the visitor economy are fit for
basis. During the pandemic, similar to many other DMOs
purpose; extending seasonality and driving footfall and
across the country, my team have been throwing all their
awareness of destinations through initiatives such as our
energy and resources into supporting local tourism
popular Big Weekend or 2FOR1 campaigns.
businesses which has included regular updates on the latest Government guidance, crisis communications and digital marketing training, tips on visitor management, health and safety and lobbying local and national Government for additional support. All this activity of course has been gratefully received, but there is no doubt that the UK tourism and hospitality sector has been devastated by COVID-19 and we are acutely aware that many local authorities and DMOs have seen and will continue to see a dramatic reduction in revenues from business rates, the closure of private sector tourism businesses and revenue earning activities from museums, theatres and leisure centres. The irony is of course that as the country starts to recover, tourism businesses and national bodies will rely heavily on DMOs for local support and delivery like never before, and let's not forget the looming prospect of the UK's exit from the EU at the end of the year!So how to ensure the survival of DMOs and ensure a steady flow of revenue from local and international visitors in the weeks, months and years to come?Of course, there is no silver bullet or one size fits all solution and DMOs collectively are currently preparing to ask central government for additional funding, but it is clear that destinations have to be even more innovative, agile, flexible and ready to capitalise quickly on consumers' current "wait and see" attitude to travelling. Destinations have to think carefully about the trends that have emerged from the pandemic, namely how our cities, towns and villages will be impacted (positively or negatively) by the substantial increase in those working from home. Thought also needs to be given to the challenges created by the decline in business travel
SEPTEMBER 2020, ISSUE 11
TOURISM - RESILIENCE
If we read the main causes of the spread of COVID 19, in
THROUGH THE
transmitted by people who have, irresponsibly I say,
the last few months since it has gone global, it is often travelled to other countries by air and sea.
INTEGRATED APPROACH
What I am proposing now is the implementation of The
By Julian Zarb FTS
Integrated Approach to Tourism Planning that I have
The world has been stricken by a modern-day plague which has been spread by the movement of people across the globe. From that lucrative industry which so many countries today depend on and, in many cases, over commercialize, to the activity that is seen as a purely economic machine that produces numbers and lots and lots of money for a select amount of stakeholders. Now that most of the business stakeholders are seeing the start of what could be a long drawn-out period of slow-down and economic disaster, the only solution for these people is to turn to Governments for hand-outs and tax rebates. But we need to be much stronger than that, we need to apply the principles of a long-term integrated approach for tourism now to provide more resilience and a better future. The tourism activity I am proposing here is not a “continuity” of the old, abstract industry we have got complacent about over the past years, it is an activity that will
look
carefully
at
developing
a
socio-cultural
experience based on two very traditional qualities – hospitality and service. These two qualities have been ingrained as essential sectors of the industry, when they are important components we should all possess if we really
want
to
see
a
sustainable
and
responsible
activity tomorrow. Responsibility is important for the visitor as well as the host community.
researched and developed over the past few years (2015 – 2020); the importance of travellers to heed the basic principles of travel and tourism which are very clearly explained in the booklet: The UNWTO Global Code of Ethics and the consistent and continuous process for ensuring a sustainable carrying capacity that ensures added
value
for
the
host
and
visitor
at
the
destination. Carrying capacities are not about a capping of the tourist numbers but about managing tourism in terms of an ongoing monitor of the scenario planning process. During this time of slow down for the tourism activity, it would be appropriate to consider the new strategy and policy by starting now to develop virtual brainstorming sessions, identifying those areas where there needs to be priority and highlighting the options for a new and revived tourism activity.