Tourism - Summer 2013 - issue 154

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Editorial

Contents Policy: Amending the Package Travel Directive to boost domestic tourism Kurt Janson MTS, Policy Director,Tourism Alliance

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Research: English domestic tourism in 2012: ten key trends Sharon Orrell, Head of Research and Insight,VisitEngland

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Green Growth and Travelism: A sustainable development journey Geoffrey Lipman FTS, Director, Greenearth Travel Case Study: Our Land – Protected landscapes make a stand Amelia Shepherd, Campaign Manager, Our Land

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Digital Technology:Tourism and SoLoMo in 2013 (and beyond!)

Steve Lowy, CEO, umi Digital

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Tourism and Retail: Developing a lucrative new market Jill Sinclair, Managing Director, Sinclair–Global Ltd

Sustainability at home and abroad is the key Statistics seem to come at us from all sides these days but a key one that people home in on is the number of visitors – to the country as a whole, to their region, town or attraction in particular.

Three articles in this edition comment on the healthy level of visitors over the last 12 months but go on to say that domestic trips are getting shorter and the number of day-trips is increasing. At the same time, the number of holidays taken in English country locations fell by 6% in 2012.

All this presents a challenge for rural businesses – Amelia Shepherd writes how Our Land is addressing this through collaboration, and Kurt Janson MTS considers the obstacles hindering small operators from offering more enticing opportunities for their guests. Having a great product is no use if people do not know about it, of course; Steve Lowy has written about the importance of following developments on the technology front to help promote your business and engage with customers – SoLoMo is the way forward.

Operators frequently work closely with transport companies and accommodation providers to supply services to groups.The often specialised interests, and needs, of these customers make them an important sector but as Peter Stonham MTS discusses the contribution they can make to a business is not well understood.

A particularly important group that is beginning to grow significantly is made up of visitors from overseas who want to shop. Iconic and exclusive British brands have a lot of pulling power, something that marketing directors and other senior executives are now realising. Jill Sinclair gives an interesting insight into the relationship between retail and tourism, and the importance of getting the travel trade to work with the shops and stores – the reward is a slice of the £4.5 billion tourists put into the tills.

Sustainability is a word used in an increasing number of contexts.

The natural world is perhaps one of the most appropriate of these, and the impact of increasing numbers of travellers has put

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TOURISM SOCIETY ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2013 Information and booking form

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Group Travel: An important but overlooked sector Peter Stonham MTS, Editorial Director, Landor Travel Publications

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Tourism in Africa:The impact of the Eastern Super Powers Ekta Shah MTS, Managing Director, African Sojourn Ltd

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An Interview With… Jonathan Jones CBE FTS

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Student Placement: Personal developments and industry insights 24 Alice Glaze, Student in International Tourism Management, Oxford Brookes University Membership News

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The Back Page Chairman’s view

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added pressure on resources in, and the fabric of, destinations around the world.

Green growth as explained by Geoffrey Lipman FTS links travel with the economy, development and the environment, and introduces the concept of ‘travelism’.

Ekta Shah MTS writes about the difficulties experienced in Africa of balancing the need for foreign investment with sudden growth in the number of tourists who may have a view on the value of a country’s natural heritage that is at odds with that of operators with a long-term outlook.

As somewhere to gain work placement experience, a remote camp in Malawi may not be everyone’s choice but for Alice Glaze MTS it was an eye-opener, and perhaps a more obvious route into the world of tourism than the one taken by Jonathan Jones CBE FTS – you will have to read the interview with him to find out where he gained his experience.

In the centre pages you will find information about our Annual Conference, taking place in Cardiff on July 2nd and 3rd.The lineup of speakers is impressive and it promises to be a valuable two days; like the Tardis at the Dr Who Experience in Cardiff Bay, you will get more out of it than you would think.

Gregory Yeoman MTS Executive Director gregory@tourismsociety.org

Issue 154 Summer 2013

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Policy

Amending the Package Travel Directive to boost domestic tourism The UK domestic tourism figures for 2012 show a very distinct trend. While the number of domestic holidays taken remained static, the number of day-visits has increased by 11%.

This indicates that families are finding that their discretionary income continues to be under considerable pressure and, while still committed to undertaking holidays, they are looking for ways to economise – one of which is by reducing the number and duration of domestic holidays and increasing the number of day-trips.

This is generating winners and losers within the tourism industry. Destinations that are outside the day-trip radius of a major conurbation are under considerable pressure while those inside this radius are seeing increased business. Although, even here, accommodation businesses are being hit harder than attractions due to increased day-trips.

Under this sort of pressure, businesses need to find ways of maintaining visitor expenditure. Rather than simply providing discounts which tend to affect the bottom line, a key way to maintain revenue is to provide added-value products and services for customers.

Unfortunately, there is a major impediment to the ability of most small businesses to do this – the Package Travel Directive (PTD).

The PTD was developed in 1990 and implemented in the UK in 1992 through the Package Travel Regulations.The primary purpose of the directive was twofold: to protect consumers in the event that their tour operator went bankrupt, and to clarify legal responsibility in the event that a customer suffered injury or loss while undertaking a holiday.

These considerations are particularly relevant where customers are taking holidays overseas and the financial failure of a tour operator could leave significant numbers of people stranded without the means or funds to be able to return home.

Under the PTD, a package is defined as any product sold at an inclusive price that

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Bed & Breakfast & ….? ©VisitBritain / Tim Fox

contains any two of the following three components: 1.Travel 2. Accommodation 3. Significant other Tourism Product or Service.

Any business selling a package under this definition has to implement a range of measures to protect their customers. For example, the customer has to be financially protected through a mechanism such as holding clients’ funds in a trust account, or operating a bonding scheme.

Businesses are also required to provide customers with detailed information on the services being offered and are legally responsible for all components of the package.

Kurt Janson MTS | Policy Director, Tourism Alliance Issue 154 Summer 2013

As a consequence of this definition, regulations primarily intended to protect customers travelling overseas are equally applicable to small domestic tourism businesses offering added-value products.

For example, a B&B in a village cannot work with the local pub to provide “two nights’ accommodation including meals at the local pub for £100” without complying with the regulations.

The costs associated with complying with the requirements of the PTD are particularly onerous for small businesses – holding customers’ funds in trust accounts has a severe impact on their cashflow, while being legally responsible for all components of a package significantly increases insurance costs. As a result, most small businesses do not undertake packaging.

Yet the opportunity exists to resolve this problem.The European Commission is due to present proposals on reforming the PTD.This opportunity could be used to redefine a “package” as simply the combination of transport and accommodation (ie, remove “significant other tourism service” from the definition).

Changing the definition in this way would retain the primary purpose of the Package Travel Directive in that it would still protect people travelling overseas on holiday. However, it would also enable small domestic tourism businesses to work together to bundle products, allowing destinations to produce a more competitive and compelling product. It would also support Destination Management Organisations by providing an incentive for small businesses to join in order to meet other businesses with which to develop value-added products.

To help ensure that the definition of a package is redefined to support domestic tourism businesses in the UK and throughout Europe, the Tourism Alliance is asking that businesses work through their national and European lobby groups to ensure a co-ordinated response when the EU’s proposals on reforming the Package Travel Directive are published.

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Research

English domestic tourism in 2012: ten key trends 2012 was no ordinary year.The Olympic Games and Diamond Jubilee were enjoyed by millions, and generated a huge feel-good factor.

On the downside, we were just 7mm away from experiencing the wettest year on record. So what did it all mean for domestic tourism?

The final results from the 2012 GB Tourism Survey are now available, and they show that in England, the total number of domestic overnight trips remained unchanged at 104 million, while the amount spent grew by 9% in nominal terms to £19.5 million, the highest level since we started the current survey in 2006.

Averages don’t always tell the whole story though, and so we’ve taken a look behind the headlines to highlight ten trends emerging from the 2012 data: Business travel recovery A 3% increase in the number of business trips taken marked the second year of growth in this sector after four previous years of decline.The number of domestic business trips has now overtaken prerecession levels, but the average spend per trip is virtually the same as in 2008, a drop of over 10% in real terms.

Choosing who our friends are Last year, 5% more trips were taken to visit friends and relatives (VFR) for holiday purposes, a record for the current survey.

In parallel though, the number of “duty” VFR trips, taken for other reasons, fell by 8% to reach the lowest level we have ever seen.

Staycation, Staycation, Staycation Despite the rain, the number of domestic holidays taken in England last year held steady at 46 million.This leaves trip volumes at 14% above the 2006-8 prerecession average after the fourth consecutive year of the ‘staycation’ trend.

Short and sweet While we have seen more domestic

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A day-trip to the Lancashire countryside ©VisitBritain / Jason Knot and Lancashire & BlackpoolTourist Board

holidays taken in recent years, the breaks themselves are getting shorter.There was a 2% drop in the number of 4+ night breaks in England last year, leaving the average English holiday at 3.4 nights, down from 3.65 nights in 2006.

Weather impacts Although the overall number of holidays taken in 2012 was unchanged versus 2011, trip-taking patterns through the year show how behaviour was affected by some of the weather extremes. In March 2012, when the weather was unusually warm, holiday trip volumes rose by 16% but then fell by 10% in April, and by 19% in July.

Town and country There were differing trends by destination type. Large towns and cities saw an 8% increase in leisure break volumes, with a 13% increase for London specifically. In contrast, 6% fewer holidays were taken in English countryside destinations last year.

Yet more online growth The number of domestic holidays booked online has increased dramatically in recent years.

A further 11% increase in 2012 takes the number of holiday trips booked online to

almost 22 million – or 112% higher than in 2006.

That’s entertainment The year saw increases across all categories of holiday spending, but one of the steepest was spending on “entertainment” which rose by 24%, while the amount spent on going out for food and drink also went up, by 20%.

The Age of the train?

It’s still the case that the majority of domestic trips – over three quarters of all holidays – are taken by car. Nonetheless, 2012 saw a sharp increase in trips taken by train, up 16% on 2011 and now making up 12% of the total volume, compared to 9% in 2006.

It’s all about the money Over half of the increase in domestic holiday volume since the onset of the recession has come from consumers in the most affluent AB social grade.

Although this group took only marginally more trips in 2012 than 2011, the amount they spent rose by 19%.

All of which serve to show that while the number of trips may be stable, the market has continued to change. It will be fascinating to see what 2013 brings.

Sharon Orrell | Head of Research and Insight, VisitEngland

Issue 154 Summer 2013

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Green Growth and Travelism

A sustainable development journey

Why Green Growth?

The concept of Green Growth has emerged as a long-term strategy for governments to coherently address today’s recurring interlinked mega-challenges of economic uncertainty, development crisis, environmental degradation and climate change reality. And to do so in a hyperconnected world, where risk is intensifying and systemic shocks - from man or nature - seem to be more frequent, more severe and more visible than ever. Where we will have 30% more people by 2050 – most living in big cities in BICS economies – putting greater strain on water and food.

And where we need low carbon, resource-efficient, inclusionary strategies to avoid ‘climate conflict’ and keep temperatures at levels where our grandkids don’t freeze or fry.

The science and politics are converging on global temperature stabilisation by 2050; when all production, consumption and investment will have transformed. What is significant is the direction charted and commitment to keep on the path as seemingly insurmountable obstacles emerge – political, economic, social, natural and in some cases just happenstance.

The good news is there will be trillions of dollars to support that transformation: the bad news is that treasury ministers will be

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Credit: buchachon – Fotolia.com

Sustainable development has been on the travel and tourism agenda for the past 25 years – originally as a visionary afterthought in corporate and government policymaking, then as a thoughtful response to changing political, CSR and market trends and now as a key socioeconomic transformation agent for a new green economy.The question is: how committed is the sector to the strategy and how can we move from today’s topdown certification-focused systems for the sector to more base of the pyramid shared internet collaborative solutions that fit in with broader politico–industrial market trends? Green Growth and “Travelism” is designed to help that shift.

looking to take more and more in taxes.

So it’s essential to be prepared and be an early mover.

Why Travelism?

The same policymakers are also slowly recognizing, after two decades of concerted industry effort, that Travel and Tourism – the entire customer, company and community value chain – can play a much more significant role in this Green Growth transformation.They see a powerful dynamic ‘cross sectoral’ activity that is a major ‘direct and indirect’ contributor to GDP, Jobs, Consumption and Trade. One that is an incredible catalyst for infrastructure, skills training, development support, as well as the people-to-people interaction that is at the heart of our basic humanity. From the G20 to the UN system, to regional and national governments they are beginning to identify this sector as a special green growth job

Issue 154 Summer 2013

creator. Particularly in the indirect areas of construction, manufacturing, agriculture and communications that respond to travel demand.

Travelism is meant as a thought changer, to transcend the endless debate about the fact that Tourism doesn’t really get across the idea of business travel; that Tourism Ministers are usually not powerful cabinet level positions; and that Travel seems to reflect mobility not necessarily hospitality – and aviation more than road or cruising.

It’s a word that reflects the idea of satellite accounting – aggregating our impacts from across the value chain spread out in the system of national accounts. It’s also a 9 letter word for the twitter world.

Sustainable Development – the long march In the 20 years from the Rio Earth Summit, when the modern Agenda 21based approach to ‘sustainable development’ was set out, there has been

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Credit: Robert Wilson – Fotolia.com

progress globally and in our sector.

The global policy agenda has shifted from planet, through people and climate over the past decade and last year’s Rio +20 Summit moved everyone firmly down the green growth path. Not so much a defined set of initiatives, guidelines or even policies but a multi-decade journey, with periodic targets and checkpoints, to create sustainable consumption, production and investment patterns for every activity on the planet.

Our industry’s sustainability agenda has also advanced - from ecotourism and conservation, through responsible, propoor and fair trade tourism. Industry greening and supply chain extension programs have multiplied and we have moved from basic awareness, to industry certification and global indicators for communities. All ensuring that local populations don’t suffer from tourism’s influx, while enjoying economic growth and jobs.

At the same time in the past decade much of the focus has shifted to climate and carbon reduction.The airlines developed a coherent strategy - with controls and reductions following a 2020 to 2050 target pathway. A combination of regulatory dialogue, a major emissionsdriven trade dispute and a quest for operational and technology-led innovation.

For the rest of tourism, UNWTO led a broad industry response, with a huge cross sector Davos Climate Program intended as a reference frame for government, industry and civil society - as well as an action plan for mitigation and adaptation. WTTC has developed high profile awards and a collaborative Hotel Energy control initiative. UNEP is

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masterminding a green economy program including promoting indicators for company and community change.

All this has broadened the vision of our environmental engagement, highlighting carbon impacts – particularly from transport and old inefficient buildings. It has also begun to place increasing attention on local jobs as well as lifestyle impacts; with visitor impacts finally considered along with visitor benefits.

Many in the industry and academia are now engaged in this kind of thinking. For example in conjunction with Rio +20 a group of us, working with Victoria and Oxford Brookes Universities, produced “Green Growth and Travelism – Letters from Leaders” – Time magazine-style essays from 50 leaders inside and outside the sector to consider the need for a stronger link between green growth and travelism and the way to achieve it.

Leaders who manufacture aircraft, campaign for civil society, explore futures, head governments, ministries and international agencies, shape transport, trade, development and capacity building policies, run airlines, hotels, trains, cruise ships, convention centres and national parks, provide internet information as well as the software that runs it, teach, train and the like. All with a shared vision that the most sought-after human economic activity on the planet can seriously help in the transformation to a cleaner, greener, fairer future.The ideas involve new transport platforms and fuels, hotel design and construction, meetings models, community engagement, finance approaches, education/training visions, institutional arrangements and the like.

Issue 154 Summer 2013

We are now in the process of producing a second volume with an academic underpinning: creating a community based Roadmap framework for Green Growth Travelism, establishing an Institute (GGTI) of interested Universities around the world to explore and collaborate on key aspects of the paradigm change and advancing the thinking with a new grassroots international organization (ICTP) to engage communities and their stakeholders.

Conclusion There are many players in the industry – airlines and hotel chains for example – who are operating in this green space already but the evidence suggests that most of the sector value chain is simply scratching the surface of change. And those who are going deeper may not yet have grasped the full extent of the coherent transformation action and commitment that is needed.

Consider, for example, the scale, scope and global expansion of China travelism on which so much of the hopes of our sector (and society) future well-being are based. At this moment its green growth engagement is embryonic.

Eventually, somewhere on the multidecade transformation journey, ‘green growth’ and ‘travelism’ will meld with the evolving mainstream societal sustainability.

The challenge now is to link the green with the growth in meaningful measurement, policies and actions.

That needs a new broader ‘out of the sector goldfish bowl’ mindset at government, industry and consumer levels.

And it means starting to rethink now.

Geoffrey Lipman FTS | Director, Greenearth Travel

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Case Study: Our Land

Protected landscapes make a stand Unlike in the US, for example, where national parks are wilderness areas, protected areas in the UK are usually working landscapes with farming and forestry the most important industries; tourism typically comes third.

At nearly 20% tourism employment in these areas is high (around double the national average and in some cases much higher), but while visitor numbers may also be high, most are day-trippers, often bringing little in the way of economic benefit.Ten years ago in the south-east a collaboration of nine National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty was established under the name of Our Land to change this, using tourism as a means to aid the sustainable economic development of these protected landscapes and thus help conserve and enhance them.

Nick Johannsen (Our Land’s Chairman and Director, Kent Downs AONB) says: “Tourism is an activity which, if we get it wrong, could be completely at odds with the special qualities of these landscapes; the flip side is that if we get tourism right, through collaboration we can meet the objectives of the protected landscapes, provide great experiences for visitors and a sustainable business model.” The significance of Our Land lies in these three aims, with increasing local economic benefits at the core.

Our Land set out to: Manage positive change within the tourism sector to the benefit of the environment, culture and heritage of the protected landscapes.

Increase visitors’ enjoyment and understanding of the special character, quality and bio-diversity of the protected landscapes.

Benefit the local rural economy and services by developing innovative, sustainable tourism businesses (on a 1-to1 basis), increasing occupancy levels and overnight stays and retaining visitor spend in the local economy.

Work in collaboration with as many protected landscapes as possible to strengthen and maximise the national voice of National Parks & AONBs.

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Launch event of responsible tourism initiative Our Land nearly £1 million to the initiative in 2010 Generate bookings and bed-nights for a period of three years. In 2011 Our through national promotion, via www.ourLand was born, working with tourism land.co.uk. businesses across the National Parks and Work with a private sector partner for long-term commercial sustainability leading AONBs, launching a portal to sell responsible holidays in www.ourto long-term economic benefits for land.co.uk. protected landscapes.

Today Our Land has created a network of To achieve this ground breaking degree of 800 committed businesses offering 1000 collaboration at a local and regional level distinctive landscape experiences; it has a the nine protected landscapes would collective visitor database of 250,000 and work to one, centrally coordinated, business and marketing plan in partnership has generated over 11,000 overnight stays, doubling the return on public investment with a commercial partner. Individual

by DEFRA over the same period. businesses would benefit by becoming With DEFRA’s support a further seven part of a larger local network.Through the protected landscapes from outside the private sector partner’s long-term south-east have now joined and the commitment a viable business model initiative is open to all protected would be created as the project’s legacy, landscapes. In the spirit of collaboration supporting development of sustainable Our Land has set up partnerships with tourism in our special places for the longthe RSPB, National Trust, English Heritage, term benefit of both businesses and the Woodland Trust, Wildlife Trust, CPRE, local economy.

Ordnance Survey and local Destination The realisation of this vision came when Management Organisations. funding was secured.

From April 2014, Our Land begins its third Responsibletravel.com, the leading and phase – sustaining itself beyond the public largest marketing portal for responsible funding period and working with tourism holidays, won the private sector protected landscapes across the UK. partner tender, agreeing to work at a Commercial sustainability will come from strategic and delivery level. a combination of sources including DEFRA, through the Rural Development membership fees, commission, upgrades Programme for England (RDPE), awarded and sponsorship.

Amelia Shepherd | Campaign Manager, Our Land Issue 154 Summer 2013

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Digital Technology

Tourism and SoLoMo in 2013 (and beyond!)

Technology has helped the tourism industry innovate, as well as disrupting many of the practices that were commonplace in the industry at large.

The last few years have seen the emergence of the term SoLoMo (Social, Local and Mobile) in the digital marketing sphere. In this article, I’ll explore the interesting changes afoot in technology, and why it’s important that tourism businesses get on board with SoLoMo. So for Social Facebook’s recent changes together with planned innovations that have been described in the press recently certainly embrace SoLoMo to the full, and tourism businesses with good engagement and a physical product (such as an attraction, theatre or hotel) will certainly be able to expand their social reach in 2013.

The new Facebook graph search will allow peer-to-peer recommendation to become even easier than it currently is, and all these changes have been built around the fact that it all needs to work via a mobile device (more on that later). Imagine arriving in a city like New York and when logging on to Facebook you can see a list of restaurants and bars that your friends have visited, and see what they say about them.

It means that in 2013, tourism businesses have to be ‘socially active’ in a digital sense of the phrase.

With over 1 billion active users worldwide on Facebook, and 70% of those consumers following links posted by family and friends (Source: Pew Research), it becomes incredibly important for businesses right now to ensure they’re engaging with their customers via Facebook, encouraging them to spread the word.

Google’s social media platform, Google+, has seen growth both in its users (500 million as of March 2013) and its functionality. Google+ is not so much a social network like Facebook, but rather a

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‘social layer’ to its other services.The +1 feature allows Google users to +1 a link, picture, video and so on. A high number of +1s affect that item’s ranking in the cyber world. In addition, Google have been encouraging people to integrate their Google apps such as Chrome,YouTube, Mail, Docs, Business Pages, Adwords and of course Google+ via a simple one-step login for some time. All these Apps come together to give a user a more balanced view of a specific business when performing searches.

With 91% of the world’s population using Google search in the last year alone over other popular engines like Yahoo and Bing, you can see why it might be good to get ahead of this by encouraging people to +1 your site, +1 your shared items and +1 your YouTube videos.

Issue 154 Summer 2013

Lo for Local With regards to the Local part of SoLoMo, the importance of content on your website and your other sources of information online will grow considerably in 2013. Websites are not static pieces of marketing material and should be constantly managed to keep them up-todate and relevant.

Going back to Facebook (specifically Facebook Places), their ‘checking in’ feature is a great example of innovation helping global businesses to be more localised. For instance, a user might say ‘Went to xxx, had a great time’ and tag a hotel.The hotel can see what is being said about them, and respond with ‘Glad you had a great time. Have 20% off on us; our way of saying thanks for your continued business with us!’This type of local (and social)

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advertising encourages prior customers to return, and new customers to engage and check in as well. Group-buying companies like Groupon are also providing local advertising to global companies allowing a business to reach further than through traditional forms of advertising alone.

In summary, having fantastic localised videos, pictorial and editorial content, accessible from all different types of mobiles devices, will become essential for tourism businesses in 2013 In conjunction with this, it will be very interesting to see what effect the large corporate purchases of price comparison sites Trivago and Kayak (by Expedia and Priceline respectively), as well as Google’s obviously increasing interest in the travel industry with apps such as Google Hotelfinder, will have on the travel industry in 2013.

In my opinion the purchases of Kayak by Priceline.com as well as Expedia's purchase of Trivago is a little concerning as I believe it reduces the transparency of these price aggregators if they are owned by large price generators.

They will want to recoup the money paid for these businesses (Expedia paid USD $628m, Priceline paid USD $1.8bn for Kayak), which may be to the detriment of the independent operators that will most probably have to pay even higher commissions in order to receive bookings.

Mo for Mobile Since the launch of the iPhone in 2007, the growth in usage of smartphones has been huge, and the capability of these devices to assist business of all sizes with their digital marketing has been even greater. Recent statistics highlighted by Google at an Inbound Marketing event in Liverpool in March 2013 suggested that 50% of all searches via Google are now through a mobile device and of that, 40% are localised searches within the UK. In addition, Google estimated that 20% of all travel e-commerce transactions in 2012 occurred through a mobile device.

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, also mentioned that when launching the details behind the new Facebook graph search it was found that twice as many people logged in to Facebook via a mobile device than via a desktop.

With 4G entering the UK, offering greater download and upload speeds when on the go, and increased areas hosting free Wi-Fi, more and more are switching to smartphones.

As they do, their engagement with the technology and what they want from purchasing via that device is merging with the general consumer’s expectation of the purchasing experience via a standard desktop device.

Tablet devices and mini tablet devices such as the iPad and iPad mini are very popular

with consumers looking at luxury related travel products. 4 out of 5 tablet owners use the devices to help with holiday shopping (Source:TechCrunch).

More localised products such as restaurants or local attractions are more likely to be viewed via a smaller device such as an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy.

It is important, therefore, that the ecommerce functionality works on these devices and offers a quick and efficient process to ensure completion of the transaction. Indeed, according to Google statistics via ‘Our Mobile Planet’, countries have experienced between a 4% and 63% increase in customers making a purchase via their mobile after searching for a business, spending six times more as of December than the year prior.

This is really important when travel businesses are looking at their digital strategies.

Mobile is no longer a luxury; it is a necessity.This change should be embraced and not ignored. Companies that have any e-commerce functionality on their website need to see if it works on mobile, and if it doesn't work then it needs to be changed.

In summary, this year will provide some great opportunities for Tourism businesses of all sizes to embrace technology and use it to grow market share and improve efficiencies in their business.

Steve Lowy | CEO, umi Digital

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Issue 154 Summer 2013

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Tourism and Retail

With some notable exceptions, the worlds of tourism and retail have to date been separate entities, with neither really understanding the value of the other. But Chief Executives and main boards are now waking up to the value and spends of the international markets, and particularly for luxury and designer brands the potential for expanding internationally and building upon their provenance and British heritage is a great opportunity.

Galleries Lafayette have successfully combined tourism and retail for a long time, and others such as Value Retail (Bicester Village), McArthurGlen, Westfield and Harrods integrate trade tourism marketing into their overall strategy. Until 3 years ago, McArthurGlen had done no tourism marketing; it has now built its tourism business by over 60% and has a dedicated team led by Anthony Rippingale, formerly with the Canadian Tourism Commission.The drive for this came from the marketing director. For other retailers, especially super luxury brands, tourism falls under the auspices of client acquisition and retention, where partnerships are assessed on the broader criteria of brand fit and equity.The value of the right partner with the right profile of client in the source markets is more important than volumes per se.

However, for less sophisticated retailers, tourism is often seen as a homogeneous group of various nationalities rather than a dynamic audience that can be cleverly marketed to through the trade and across all channels.

Ironically, retail brands concentrate on marketing in their home markets with precision and excellence, with some investing hugely in new markets, but they do little to capture the inbound tourist, who sees the destination as representing status, authenticity and value.The average transaction value of non-EU shoppers can be 4-10 times that of the domestic, shopper representing a significant contribution to sales and awareness.Taxfree refunds also drive revenue that can contribute to tourism marketing and the bottom line.

Findings by the national tourism agency estimate that 18 million foreign visitors

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Credit: bst2012

Developing a lucrative new market

spent a till-busting £4.5billion in Britain’s shops(1), meaning 25 per cent of all expenditure by overseas visitors is on the UK’s high streets and in the country’s impressive range of department stores.

The potential for the retail and travel trade to work more closely together is enormous.The first step is a deeper understanding by the travel trade of retail brands and experiences, together with the way retailers operate and evaluate return on investment and protecting their brand.

Likewise, retailers need to understand that the trade are like curators, portals, brands and advisers in their own right with sectors and specialisms they have developed over the years.

With shopping being a core driver and pillar for the UK, the opportunity goes beyond discounts and requires the creation of added value, privileges, access and bespoke experiences that the trade can add to their packages to create differentiation as well as to drive sales and margin for them and their retail partners.

Common to all markets is the power of uniqueness and experiences – be it an afternoon tea with etiquette lessons,

Jill Sinclair | Managing Director, Sinclair – Global ltd Issue 154 Summer 2013

access to working showrooms, limited editions, behind the scenes tours, or personalised products and services.

Collaboration and partnering is the way forward, particularly in these challenging economic times. While increased awareness is being driven by tourism bodies, associations and specialist consultants, there is still the need for more conversation and collaboration between the retail industry and the travel trade.

Perhaps the government should take more heed and make tourism a serious player – a sentiment shared by James Aston of the Evening Standard who recently commented: “Relegating the role of tourism when minister John Penrose was relieved of his duties after Olympics sent out the wrong message. So too, does burying tourism in the Department of Culture Media and Sport. Why not move it to the Department for Business, with the rest of the Business sectors that can help the economy.”

(1) Visit Britain Media Room 27.2.13 http://ow.ly/k6EK1

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THE TOURISM SOCIETY

ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2013

INSPIRE COMPETE

REGENERATE (& WIN) Tuesday 2nd July – Study Tours, reception and dinner Wednesday 3rd July – Conference City Hall, Cardiff Professionalism in the workplace - what does that mean? What makes you a true professional? Aren't we all professionals? Don’t we all do everything we can to succeed, lead, support and make a good profit? Perhaps that's always the intention, but "stuff" gets in the way and it's easy to get side-tracked, take shortcuts, put cost reduction before customer service.

Our Annual Conference this year will look at three key areas that, when approached with professionalism in mind, can make the difference between satisfactory business performance and outstanding performance. Our speakers are drawn from a variety of sectors and businesses and combine to bring a very broad range of experience to the presentations and panel discussions.

In addition to the conference itself there are four study tours to choose from, each highlighting an example of regeneration and tourism development in and around Cardiff, a reception at the new Dr Who Experience, and an informal dinner.

With networking opportunities, informal business discussions over lunch and tea-breaks, and the chance to catch up with colleagues from around the country, it all adds up to two days of top quality Tourism information.

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ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2013 THE VENUE City Hall, Cardiff The event takes place at Cardiff’s impressive City Hall. Conference sessions will be in the Assembly Room, which has hosted royalty, international statesmen and diplomats and is decorated with ornamental mouldings that are a reminder of the City’s close links with the sea, with mermaids, seahorses, fish and shellfish picked out in gold leaf.

The Hall is illuminated by three large bronze chandeliers. Refreshments and lunch will be in the adjacent Marble Hall, lined with Sienna marble columns and statues of famous figures from Welsh history including Boudica, Owain Glyndwr, Bishop William Morgan and Sir Thomas Picton.

Getting to Cardiff is very straightforward. The M4 (junction 30 or 32) passes close by; rail connections are excellent (Paddington 2hrs, Birmingham 2hrs, York c.6hrs) and Cardiff Airport is just 12 miles away.

The City Hall is a 10-minute walk from Cardiff Central station and is close to the castle, which dates back to Roman times.

City Hall, Cardiff

CONFERENCE TIMETABLE TUESDAY 2ND JULY 12.00 12.45 – 16.30 18.00 – 19.00 19.30

Registration and refreshments Study tours Evening reception Dinner

WEDNESDAY 3RD JULY 08.30 09.00 – 10.30

Registration opens Study tour debriefings

SESSION 1 – INSPIRE Chairman: Jonathan Jones CBE FTS, Director, Welsh Government Office, London Speakers: Roger Carter MBE FTS, Managing Director, TEAM Tourism Consulting; Judith Moreton, Dealmaker, Global Entrepreneurs Programme – UKTI. What can we do to become even better leaders, because whether we work with one person or one hundred people, the way we behave, motivate and work by example will make all the difference. How are we Judith Moreton developing the tourism professionals of tomorrow to reach great heights – can we do better?

11.00 12.00 12.15 13.15 14.15 15.30 16.00 16.30

Conference begins.

Session 1 – Inspire Break Session 2 – Compete Lunch and networking Session 3 – Regenerate Break Closing session – Win Close

SESSION 2 – COMPETE Chairman: Alison Cryer FTS, MD Representation Plus / First PR Speakers: Caroline Cooper MTS, Director, Naturally Loyal; Patricia Yates FTS, Director of Strategy and Communications, VisitBritain; Dr Raimonda Balniene; Magnus Berglund, Accessibility Ambassador, Scandic Hotels.

What are the secrets of success for SMEs? Can a small business compete in today's on-line, brandPatricia Yates FTS centric world? Can Britain be GREAT again? What's it like creating a "new" destination from an old country and if you are already at the top of your game, how do you keep the competition away? And in the world of hotels, what can set you apart and open up a big new market?

SESSION 3 – REGENERATE Chairman: John Walsh-Heron FTS, Director, Tourism Quality Services Speakers: Bill Ferris OBE, CEO, Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust; Matthew Tanner, CEO, SS Great Britain; Aneil Bedhi, Director, M&C Saatchi; John Cottrell MTS, Director, Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners; Tony Berry, Visitor Experience Director, National Trust.

Where you will hear how you can rebrand you. Are you getting the results you deserve? How does a big organisation such as the National Trust reinvent itself, and how can heritage be presented in a new way

BOOKING FORM TUESDAY 2ND JULY Please tick your choices Study Tours: Member / Non-Member Tour 1 – Dr Who £15.00 / £25.00 Tour 2 – Celtic Manor £5 / £15.00 Tour 3 – National Museum of Art £5.00 / £15.00

John Walsh-Heron FTS

and act as a catalyst for renewal?

Tourism Society chairman David Curtis-Brignell FTS will also be ‘in conversation’ with Bill Ferris about how TV and film can be harnessed.

CLOSING SESSION – WIN You'll have to be there to find out what is happening here... As they say, you have to be in it to win it.

STUDY TOURS On July 2nd there will be a choice of four study tours, each visiting an attraction in or near Cardiff. NB – all tours take place at the same time.

Study Tour 1: DOCTOR WHO EXPERIENCE The new 3,000 sq m building is at Porth Teigr, Cardiff Bay, next door to the BBC's Roath Lock studios, where Doctor Who, Casualty, Crimewatch and Sherlock are produced.It's the first ever interactive Doctor Who exhibition opened by BBC Worldwide.

The tour will include a briefing by the manager of the Doctor Who Experience to include the background to the development, their business expectations and future vision. The interactive element of the tour will take 30 minutes and the free-flow exhibition can take up to an hour.

Study Tour 2: TOUR TO CELTIC MANOR The home to the Ryder Cup in 2010, this five-star resort has recently been named the UK’s best hotel at the Meetings & Incentive travel awards.

The tour will include briefings from Dylan Matthews the CEO of the resort and a full tour. Delegates will be able to discuss the work involved in getting the Ryder Cup to Celtic Manor, the investment and marketing required and the legacy from having hosted this worldwide sporting event.

Tour 4 – Royal College of Music £5.00 / £15.00 Reception and dinner: Member / Non Member Reception at Dr Who and dinner at ffresh £55.00 / £70.00 Reception at Dr Who and dinner at Cardiff Castle £67.00 / £82.00 WEDNESDAY 3RD JULY Conference: Member Early Bird £85.00 / From May 18th £95.00 Conference: Non Member Early Bird £95.00 / From May 18th £105.00 Conference: Student Member £50.00 (no Early Bird) Early bird rate is for July 3rd only and applies until 5pm on Friday 17th May. Name ..................................................................

Please circle: MTS / FTS / non-member Job title................................................................

Organisation ......................................................

Tel ........................................................................

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Email ....................................................................

Address .............................................................. .............................................................................. .............................................................................. .............................................................................. .............................................................................. ..............................................................................

Post code............................................................

Please complete BOTH sides of this form and return to: The Tourism Society Queens House 55-56 Lincoln’s Inn Fields London WC2A 3BH Tel 0207 269 9693 Email admin@tourismsociety.org

Study Tour 3: NATIONAL MUSEUM OF ART, CARDIFF PAYMENT DETAILS I enclose a CHEQUE for £ .............................................................. made payable to the Tourism Society.

OR, Please deduct £ .............................. from my card

The new £6.5m National Museum of Art, which opened to the public on Saturday 9 July 2011, includes one of Europe's best collections of Impressionist works.

Two years on from the opening of the six new galleries what has the impact been on visitor numbers?

How has the Museum of Art integrated into the National Museum ‘offer’ and how did this new

development stretch the professionalism of the staff?

(please note we do not accept American Express)

Cardholder name ................................................................

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Issue number (Maestro and Solo cards) ................................................................

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Study Tour 4: FILM & TELEVISION LOCATION – IMPACT ON DESTINATION MARKETING This tour will begin with a behind the scenes look at the BBC Roath Lock studios where Dr Who, Casualty, Crimewatch and Sherlock are produced.

This will be followed by a presentation from Mark John, Manager of the Cardiff City Council film unit, who will outline the economic importance of film and television locations to Cardiff and how this accrues to the Destination Marketing sell.

RECEPTION AND DINNER An informal dinner will be held on Tuesday July 2nd. There is a choice of venue – you can go for a contemporary experience or choose something more historical.

ffresh Bar and Restaurant Overlooking Cardiff Bay and situated in the Wales Millennium Centre, ffresh uses local Welsh and west of England suppliers to provide a delicious menu in stylish and contemporary surroundings.

The restaurant is just a few minutes’ walk from the Dr Who Experience, where we will have our early-evening reception.

A set two-course dinner with half a bottle of wine costs £30.

Welsh banquet at Cardiff Castle Signature ................................................

Please invoice me / my company.

Purchase order number ..........................

NB To qualify for the Early Bird rate you must book and pay before c.o.p. on Friday May 17th. Payment must be made to confirm your place.The full charge will be incurred unless cancellation is received by 12 noon on Friday 03 June.

If your tastes are more Mediaeval you can head back into town after the reception for a four-course dinner at the castle.

Tickets cost £42 and include wine, mead and entertainment – an evening of Welsh hospitality served up in the oldest part of the castle, dating from the 15th century.

HOTEL ACCOMMODATION There is a wide range of accommodation available in Cardiff. The hotels nearest the conference venue are the Park Plaza and Hilton, with others not far away.

To book your accommodation directly with the hotel of your choice please go to https://resweb.passkey.com/go/Tourism2013 where you can check availability and room rates.

Group Travel

An important but overlooked sector Tourism and travel activity is made up of a wide range of market niches – which can be broken down variously, by origin of the travellers, their demographic and economic and social status, the places and activities that they are interested in, the reasons for their journeys and their spend – amongst other criteria.

But even after examining all these determining and defining factors, other distinguishing features about travellers are important, too. Crucial, and often overlooked, is whether people are undertaking their travel and leisure activity not as individuals, or family units – two regularly recognised categories – but as groups with a particular affinity, reason to travel together, or shared interest.

Definitive figures about groups are generally not collected – another problem for the sector – but seem to represent between 10-20% of the market in most countries, varying according to local cultures and habits about trip-making.

This is the world of ‘group travel’ – an important but poorly understood part of the travel and tourism economy, and as a result not always given the status it deserves. It often misses out on proper marketing and infrastructure support, customer service and management attention – or gets unrecognised for the value it can bring to tourism suppliers.

Groups are an important business category for everyone from destinations to transport and accommodation providers, and of course national, local and regional economies.

So what is ‘a group’? And how do groups get put together, organised and make their buying decisions?

In essence, a group is some connected people, more than a random collection of individuals; people with a shared origin, and a shared interest, who are travelling together.

These are just the basics. Groups have other special characteristics, too. Generally, as customers, they are looking for something ‘special’ or different; want to

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Day trips on a steam train enjoy privileges; are seeking a better deal in recognition of their buying power; and require some ‘TLC’ from those who are supplying them and addressing their needs.

For suppliers, and the tourism sector more generally, groups represent a significant sell, regular business, and a surprisingly flexible customer group - if it benefits them and the organisation they are buying from.

They are thus very often worth the additional sales effort and after-sales support they need. Examples of the advantages of group customers are their willingness to commit to capacity well ahead of the travel date – they have generally much longer lead times than individuals – and a pragmatic approach to accepting time constraints (e.g. for accommodation) in exchange for a good deal.

So where do these people come from?

Some are long-established and institutional e.g. from a company, association or club, or simply those who like doing things together. Others are ‘self-created’ by people who live or work near each other, and have local or shared interests. Further

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groups are ‘packaged up’ by third parties, e.g. ‘reader offers’; brought together by incoming operators; or have responded to ideas for trips created by suppliers to hook special interest customers through a particular promoted opportunity or theme.They may be drawn together by anything from heritage to sport, culture, arts and entertainment, by one-off tourism and leisure opportunities like concerts, historic celebrations, sporting events or gatherings of anything from steam engines to sampling fine wines!

Prejudice against groups is unfortunately quite widespread! Typical perceptions are that they are ‘coach parties’ of elderly or down-market customers with ‘bucket and spade’ requirements akin to the original ‘package holiday’ buyers.This is very wide of the mark! Coach travel is still the favoured travel mode, but coaches can be very upmarket these days. And groups take planes, boats and planes, too. Some groups are decidedly ‘premium’, and the groups market is evolving significantly.

More organisers are experimenting to enjoy new, different and more unusual

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Horticultural interest groups enjoy garden tours experiences. Indeed, the organisers themselves are an energetic, enthusiastic and creative bunch, if sometimes hard to find and befriend. But when a group organiser finds a supplier they like, the result is a customer who is loyal, nice to deal with, and professional in their transactions and who can bring a significant amount of business.

In the past, the group travel sector – and those who serve it – has not had much of a voice. Group Travel Organiser magazine was founded in Britain 25 years ago this year to address the information needs of this sector, as the first dedicated publication for this audience. It now has some 10,000 group buyers as registered readers.The Group Travel Business Forum linked to it has been in existence for nearly five years as an informal grouping of professionals who specialise in providing products and services to the group travel and tourism market. It was established in recognition of the fact that the voice of group travel as a distinct sector of the industry is often missing in discussions with official bodies and in meetings of other professionals in the field, and the exchange of expertise and knowledge between group specialists can be very beneficial to both individuals and the sector as a whole.

There is an increasing range of routes

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through which to address group customers, ranging from traditional brochures and printed material through to educational events, presence at exhibitions, online marketing and other promotional opportunities. At the same time, new media information distribution techniques such as customer relationship management allow different products and offers to be targeted to meet the needs of different kinds of group customer.

The fact that there is no such thing as a ‘standard group’ highlights the importance of providing an experience rather than merely a trip or visit. Marketing has to be carefully targeted to take into account the needs of different groups, whether they are educational or specialist parties, for example, or formed of either younger empty nesters, or more mature people.

Any strategy for promoting to groups should reflect the longer datelines of when groups start to plan a visit, as this must influence the timing of marketing activity.

Discounted prices are one element, but attractions, destinations and suppliers should also consider how to add value to their group visit offers or packages. A dedicated customer contact for group travel enquiries generally proves much more successful in gaining bookings than dealing with them on a more general helpline, as the right discussion can ensure

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an understanding of the special needs of group visitors such as coach parking, the right mix of hotel rooms, and so information about special facilities and experiences is made available.

The digital era has brought interesting challenges to those in the groups sector such as the trend to book online. Selfadministered reservations need a carefully considered approach for groups, especially for organisers who want to sell on places to their party.

New software can in fact allow group members to book and pay directly online themselves for places, and save an organiser’s time in administration and responsibility in collecting money.

An increasing number of tourism organisations fortunately see the value of identifying and supporting their lead group travel specialists as professionals in their field, with the opportunity to share concerns with each other and relate collectively to other parts of the tourism industry. A greater understanding of the groups business within the travel and tourism world – including the government and national, regional and international agencies – will surely benefit everyone – customers, suppliers and the economy alike.

Peter Stonham MTS | Editorial Director, Landor Travel Publications

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Tourism in Africa

Credit: Kunal Bid wildlife photography

The impact of the Eastern Super Powers

Over the last 10 years there has been a huge influx of investment from the East into Africa in terms of infrastructure and services development.

The African countries have embraced the cheaper loans and more favourable packages offered by the Eastern Super Powers compared to earlier money from the World Bank, European Union and International Monetary Fund. African governments now have a choice, and the majority of them have allocated most of their new projects to money from the Eastern Super Powers of India, China and Japan. In this article I intend to discuss the impact of these Eastern Super Powers on the African Tourism Industry Africa has attracted big-spending Japanese tourists for a while. On safari in Kenya carrying their heavy camera equipment

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they are commonly referred to as ‘Picture Poachers’ and over the years Japanese businesses have even set up lodges and hotels around the country.

Indian business interests in Africa focus on human resources and the development of the service sector.The labour costs are much cheaper than in India, and several call centres have been established in African capitals.

The Indian middle and upper classes now have a lot of disposal income and are actively coming to Africa on exclusive safaris. With greater spending power than earlier Indian tourists they are actively adding value to the African tourism economies. However, it seems that it is a status symbol to have gone on a ‘hunting safari’, and this could put some pressure on countries in which these types of

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holiday are currently banned to open up the debate on legalising hunting.This is a complicated and emotive subject, and one worthy of an article by itself.

One of the current favorite destinations for Indian tourists is South Africa, which offers tailor-made holidays and hunting safaris. India was identified as a core market three years ago and South Africa promotes itself there by focusing on film, fashion, sports and food and wine.The campaign is supported centrally, with Marthinus van Schalkwyk, South Africa’s Tourism Minister, speaking at the opening of the Travel Agents Federation of India conference in Durban earlier in February this year.

Over the last 10 years the Chinese Government and Chinese businesses have taken a huge interest in the African

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Credit: alexandre zveiger

Continent and have heavily invested in infrastructure and industrial development.

The efficiency of the Chinese workforce has ensured that infrastructure development in many African countries has been kick started in a big way.

The improved infrastructure has considerably improved the African tourism industry, as comfort and access to tourism sites has greatly improved for tourists.

The Chinese companies tended to bring large numbers of their workforce to the African countries for these projects, many of whom have stayed on and settled in Africa.There is a school of thought that also suggests that the Chinese may be developing the African infrastructure network to improve the flow of natural resources from the land-locked countries to those with ports for better transport back to China.

There is one unwelcome activity that has experienced something of a resurgence recently. Over the past 10 years, and especially in the last 5 years, levels of poaching, particularly of rhino horn and elephant tusks, have increased exponentially. Could this be linked to the concurrent increase in Asian interest in Africa and its varied resources?

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Several television programmes, notably “Ivory Wars� shown on the BBC, have focused on this subject. A major factor that needs to be addressed is the local knowledge of where ivory and rhino horns come from and the damage that is done when extracting these commodities.

By permitting Chinese businesses access to opportunities in Africa we are improving the infrastructure, job creation and overall economies of these countries.

However, are we at the same time destroying our tourism industries by allowing them into our land? Their desire to own a piece of ivory or rhino horn has increased the poaching in Africa as they are willing to pay grossly inflated prices for it. One ivory tusk can earn a poacher more than an annual wage in another job.

Former poachers have been re-trained as rangers to protect the animals they once killed, which is a positive step forward and helps spread the idea of game animals having a value through attracting visitors who wish to see them alive. But others turn back to poaching as the financial rewards can be very tempting.These are the animals which draw the tourists to the continent. Are we destroying our future?

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India and China present a combined source market of over 3 billion people. In the last few years, the influx of Chinese tourists to African countries to experience the tourist product has been a growing and reassuring trend.

The Japanese inbound market is wellestablished but I feel they make less of an impact than the others. All, though, are developing more of a taste for a real experience in their destination rather than just a visit.

Yes, there is a Chinese hotel in Nairobi, where all the guests are Chinese; Indian and Japanese visitors tend to prefer their home food when travelling overseas. But I feel that these tourists are now being more adventurous when it comes to trying out new things such as local food, visiting sustainable lodges, being eco friendly etc, and this is a welcome move in the right direction.

Focusing on this new market could be very lucrative for the African Tourism industry, if its efforts are concentrated in the right way and, importantly, if visitors are educated about the potential experiences available and the value of the destinations and resources that they come to see.

Ekta Shah MTS | Managing Director, African Sojourn Ltd

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An Interview With‌

Jonathan Jones CBE FTS Jonathan Jones CBE FTS recently took over the role of Director of the Welsh Government Office in London, with responsibility for helping boost the Welsh economy by attracting high quality investment from international markets.

Gregory Yeoman MTS, Executive Director at the Tourism Society, spoke to Jonathan recently about how he got started in tourism and what he thinks the future holds for Wales.

GY:What was your first tourismrelated job and how did you get into it?

JJ: After leaving college I did three years with Ford Motor Company in Essex. Great experience, but very hard work. Showed me that American management was better! My first job in tourism was when I left Ford to become Marketing Officer at the Wales Tourist Board (WTB) in Cardiff in 1973.

GY:Who has been a major influence on you professionally?

JJ:Three men.The first was Brian Wilson, an Irish Trade Union Convenor at the Ford Assembly Plant in Dagenham where I was a Labour Relations Officer.

He cured me of gross naivety and taught me how to negotiate; and about people and what makes them tick.

The second was Emyr Griffith who gave me my first job at WTB when he was

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Š VisitBritain / Britain on View

GY:What qualifications did you leave education with?

JJ: I failed to get the necessary grades to go to LSE to study my first love, politics, so I settled for a three-year HND sandwich course in Business Studies at what is now the University of South Wales. It was a great course as I had to spend two 5month periods working for British Leyland in Paris and Birmingham. Showed me exactly where British management was going wrong!

Menai Bridge, north Wales Marketing Director. He taught me that Tourism was a people business and that it was alright to have a good time as long as you were also prepared to put in the hard work and long hours.

Finally there was Paul Loveluck, CEO of the WTB, for whom I worked for nine years.

A true professional, with integrity, drive and a tremendous sense of humour.

GY: How long have you been in your current role?

JJ: As Director of the Welsh Government Office in London,10 months. Prior to that I was CEO WTB then Visit Wales for 13 years.

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GY:What has been the highlight of your career? And the biggest challenge?

JJ: My highlight was being appointed CEO of the WTB in 1999.You could not have wished for a better, more professional group of people to work with.

Two major challenges.The first was the terrible foot and mouth outbreak in 2001.

We had all our TV ads ready to go when the countryside was immediately closed down. We simply could not show them.

The marketing team, urged on by our Chairman Philip Evans, produced what I think is still a world first. For a week, every morning we shot footage of real people on holiday in Wales; biked the film up to London; edited and got ASA approval and

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aired daily on the evening news slot with one of our Board Members, Sian Lloyd, fronting the ad. The second was the merger of the WTB into the Welsh Government.The merger was announced on July 2004 with the actual transfer taking place on April 2006.That was an incredibly difficult and testing time for the staff.

GY:What is the most important challenge in your sector at the moment?

JJ: Competition in the tourism sector was always fierce, but it is now more so.The world's tourism destinations and products can be accessed instantly on the internet and destinations can be reached more quickly and more cheaply than ever before.The successful destinations will be those who can deliver the best and most authentic experiences. I'm confident Wales can be one of those destinations!

GY:The Tourism Society conference will be held in Cardiff in July this year.What are the must-see sights for anyone choosing to spend a couple of extra days there?

JJ:The National Museum right in the centre of Cardiff, with its superb collection of French Impressionist paintings (the best outside Paris) is an absolute must.

Cardiff Castle with it history going back to Roman times has a fascinating story to tell.

Wander amongst the unique small shops that can be found in all of Cardiff's undercover arcades.

Finally, take a river taxi from the Castle down to Cardiff Bay and explore the cafes and restaurants overlooking the water.

GY:What do you think puts Wales on the map as a destination?

JJ:The opening of the Wales Coast Path

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Š VisitBritain / Jasmine Teer

GY:Which country do you think provides the best overseas example of destination management?

JJ: I always find France, especially its small towns and villages, does an excellent job of destination management.There's always excellent signposting to the TIC and car park (and there invariably is a car park); the local information is freely available in a range of languages; the parks and streets are clean and usually adorned with flowers and flags.

Local, open-air markets deliver a French feel which can never be achieved by internationally branded high street shops.

In high season there are usually plenty of events taking place in the churches, halls, parks and streets.There is usually a "Centre Ville" where all the action happens!

Millennium stadium at sunset, Cardiff put Wales on the world tourism map. Link that with Offa's Dyke path, which goes from Prestatyn in the north to Chepstow in the south, and you have the only country in the world which has an official waymarked footpath along its entire border.

GY:Which markets to do you see growing in importance for Wales over the next five years?

JJ: England will, for some considerable time, remain Wales' most important market but USA, Ireland and Germany will contribute more as their economies get back into shape.

It will be some time before the BRIC and other emerging markets have a major impact on Wales.

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GY: Has devolution worked well for Welsh tourism?

JJ: It certainly has.Visit Wales is placed within the Economic Development department and Tourism is recognised by the Welsh Government as an important sector which contributes to increasing wealth, growth and jobs.

GY:What one thing would you like to see the government do to improve the performance of tourism in the UK? And in Wales?

JJ: Funding will always be a major issue for both Governments. Anything which Governments can do to lever more money from the private sector towards both development and marketing will undoubtedly have a beneficial effect.

GY:Thank you.

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Student Placement

Personal developments and industry insights Often the idea of a work placement may seem intimidating and overwhelming. For me, it was always something that I was eager to undertake, almost like a rite of passage.

Before starting my degree in International Tourism Management at Oxford Brookes University, I spent six months in Malawi as a volunteer teacher and having travelled from a young age, working internationally seemed like the perfect way forward.

Bearing this in mind, my inquisitive self was also keen to see how the tourism industry operated with worldwide destinations to market unique experiences as luxury products. My solution was to undertake two six months placements, hoping that any experience and knowledge gained would benefit both companies, and help me to contain my interests, acknowledge my strengths and direct my future career.

My first placement took me back to Malawi where I worked for Wilderness Safaris. Whilst this may seem like an unusual choice, my gap year had left me with a yearning desire to return to Malawi and having made friends whilst I was there, I secured my placement through my connections and passion for the country.

To say my job was varied would be an understatement. I spent the majority of time working at Mvuu Camp in Liwonde National Park where I was primarily assisting in stock control but my role stretched to front of house, food and beverage and my favourite, safari guide.To set the scene, Mvuu is a boat ride and a further three hours from any settlement.

This meant that a straightforward task such as restocking the bar involved a full day of travelling and obstacles such as the national fuel crisis. With a local elephant family as my alarm clock, every day was different in Malawi and it soon became clear that travelling and working in Africa were two very different things. Adjusting to not only the speed of business (or lack of) but also the cultural differences was an area that I found fascinating.

I spent countless evenings with guests and ever-smiling colleagues, discussing our experiences and learning about each other’s cultures. I was exposed to poverty

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Alice Glaze | Student in International Tourism Management, Oxford Brookes University

Alice with some of the staff at Mvuu Camp in Liwonde National Park and third world challenges like never before but as a young girl travelling independently, I have never felt so welcome or at home, confirming that working directly with people was not a preference for me, it was a necessity.

My next place of work couldn’t have been more of a contrast. For the subsequent six months I worked on the marketing team for luxury tour operator, Black Tomato, in Shoreditch. Having always admired their modern branding and unusual trips, I secured this placement purely by asking for an opportunity to work with them.

After all, if you don’t ask, you don’t get.

Unbeknown to me, I joined the company as they were redeveloping their website.

This meant that I was thrown into the deep end and my love for writing was uncovered. Working within product marketing meant that as well as coming up with current campaigns to boost sales I was given sample itineraries with the task of turning them into products.

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In short, I had to make the experiences sound so wonderful that I made myself jealous and within a few weeks my words appeared on the company website. Within two months, I was writing for the website and online lifestyle magazine, PINCH, with no supervision.

Since returning to University, I have set up my own blog (www.aneverendinglist. wordpress.com) so that I can still satisfy my love for travel writing alongside my academic work.

The combination of placements has fuelled my interest in the relationship the tourism industry has with poverty alleviation, a subject that I plan to research for my upcoming dissertation.

Aside from the industry knowledge I gained, my independence and confidence have seen dramatic improvements making me more motivated than ever. I urge others to immerse themselves into a work placement.The benefits are indescribable…almost.

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Membership News Welcome New Company Member Southeastern Friars Bridge Court 41-45 Blackfriars Road London SE1 8PG www.southeasternrailway.co.uk Matthew Fraser MTS Alvin Wedderburn MTS Caroline Wilson MTS Chris Tucker MTS Eugene McConlough MTS Lucy Bryant MTS Michael Phillips MTS Michael Gibson MTS Nerina Peak MTS Stuart Nicholls MTS Stuart Phillips MTS Tracey Kingsnorth MTS Alison Nolan MTS Frances Maynard MTS Michelle Harris MTS Russell D'Eath MTS Susan Ratcliff MTS Astrid Agnew MTS Barbara Thomas MTS Paul Wilding MTS Sarah Boundy MTS Hannah James MTS Mark Wittekopf MTS Welcome new members Anthony Thickett MTS Middlesex University 0208 411 5555 a.thickett@mdx.ac.uk www.mdx.ac.uk Annie Stirk MTS Absolutely Food 01347 810 531 annie@absolutelyfood.co.uk www.absolutelyfood.co.uk Andy Sykes MTS Skyes Leisure Projects 01629 823 700 andy@sykes-leisure.co.uk www.sykes-leisure.co.uk Paul Sandham MTS Geosho 03305 550 340 paul@geosho.com www.geosho.com

Ben Mardall MTS Rural Tourism Consultants 07834 102 975 ben@mardall.co.uk

Olushola Odetundun MTS Sity Inn +234 80 566 77355 sityinn@yahoo.com

Fatima Gonzalez Gomez MTS Lao Mood Travel +856 21 254 366 fatima@laosmood.com www.laosmood.com

Helene Lloyd MTS Tourism Marketing and Intelligence Consultancy +7 495 787 2753 hl@tmiconsultancy.com www.tmiconsultancy.com

Lucy Downing MTS Visit East Anglia 0333 320 4202 lucy@visiteastanglia.net www.visiteastofengland.com/ Sharon Rice-Jones MTS Promoting Fife 08451 555 555 ext 442259 sharon.rice-jones@fife.gov.uk www.welcometofife.com Heidi Isa MTS heidi_isa@yahoo.co.uk Nicola Edwards MTS Monmouthshire County Council 01633 644 847 nicolaedwards@monmouthshire.gov.uk www.visitwyevalley.com Angela Byrne MTS Isle of Man Governement 01624 687 083 angela.byrne@gov.im www.visitisleofman.com Katie Rees-Gill MTS Atkins Ltd 01905 338 247 katie.rees-gill@atkinsglobal.com John Cottrell MTS Nathaniel Lichfield and Partners 02920 435 880 jcottrell@nlpplanning.com www.nlpplanning.com Joss Croft MTS VisitBritain 0207 578 1035 joss.croft@visitbritain.org www.visitbritain.org

Emma Stewart MTS freetobook 0141 270 2173 emma@freetobook.com www.freetobook.com Keith Beecham MTS VisitBritain 0207 578 1000 keith.beecham@visitbritain.org www.visitbritain.org Amelia Astley Birtwistle MTS Lotus UK 0207 953 7470 amelia@lotus-uk.co.uk www.lotus-uk.co.uk Welcome new students Sinem Oksaroglu Sophie Parker Guildford College of Further and Higher Education 01483 448 500 info@guildford.ac.uk www.guildford.ac.uk Chhanda Burmaan Alice Glaze Oxford Brookes University 01865 484 848 info@brookes.ac.uk www.brookes.ac.uk Shendur Sadasivam University of Sunderland 0208 518 5190 emrteam@sunderland.ac.uk www.sunderland.ac.uk

Events Calendar May 3rd Tourism Society Yorkshire Spring Lunch Bedern Hall,York 14th London Networking Evening The Ship Tavern, Holborn 22nd TMI Hot Topic 2013 Maple House, Birmingham

June 7th Tourism Society Scotland Segmentation: Keeping Ahead of the Curve Edinburgh July 2nd and 3rd Tourism Society Annual Conference Cardiff

October 29th Media Masterclass London 16th TMI Annual Convention Durham November Tourism Society seminar World Travel Market

Watch out for our regular e-mails giving updates about events, venues and speakers. More information can be found on the Society's website at www.tourismsociety.org/page/12/tourism-society-events.htm

www.tourismsociety.org

Issue 154 Summer 2013

25

Corporate Member

Corporate Member

Corporate Member

Corporate Member

The Back Page Chairman’s view with David Curtis-Brignell FTS Stop clouding the issue (please) We all know that we have not exactly enjoyed the best of weather recently. But just at the time when thousands of British holidaymakers were planning for the Easter Holidays, I became aware of these articles in my daily newspaper.

17th March headline: “No respite in weather as wintry conditions expected to continue,” continuing: “After months of being frozen by blizzards and drenched by downpours, Britons could be forgiven for expecting a little relief as winter turns to spring. But forecasters say the miserable conditions will continue into April.”

20th March: “Snow at Easter? Britain is facing one of the coldest months of March on record as unrelenting wintry weather is expected to last over Easter.” And 22nd March: “When will this winter ever end?

British Summer Time and the cricket season are nearly upon us, yet as snow, bitter winds and floods once again disrupt the country, any sign of spring has been extinguished.”

And in the final days before what would normally be an ‘Easter rush’ for UK tourism, “Big freeze set to continue for another four weeks, the Met Office has said, meaning no signs of spring until May.” This was just one national newspaper (daily readership of around 2.3m(1)) which I imagine was influencing people to stay at home or ‘fly off to the sun’ for Easter, at the expense of domestic tourism.

OK, so the Met Office said the weather was going to be bad so it must be, right?

However, I took this photograph on Easter Monday.Yes, it was chilly but like the previous three days the sun and the daffs were out – the latter not crushed by snow or blown horizontal by force-8 blasts.

It was, in fact, pleasant – all weekend. Nice for a walk or visiting an attraction, popping down to the coast or to get away for a break. So to my point. I am not suggesting the media deliberately publish scare stories about our weather.They are simply doing what they have always done – jumping on bad news about a national obsession. But have they considered the consequences for the UK tourism

industry? Look at it another way. If they printed a story about a corporation which was subsequently found not only to be incorrect or misleading, but also financially damaging, they would be sued. But if they publish a story that deters people from taking a holiday or trip in the UK and that story turns out to be wrong…. nothing happens.

So I am launching a campaign, a crusade to work alongside our tourist boards to alert editors to the damage they are unwittingly causing our industry. STOP CLOUDING THE ISSUE! Now, I am not naïve enough to expect this to mark a sea-change in the habits of our national media. In addition, therefore, to appealing to the better side of editors we have to take matters into our own hands. What can we do to help ourselves?

1. Websites (1) – put your local forecasts on your website. Remember, regional forecasts can vary significantly – e.g. dull and wet north of the Sussex Downs and bright and

sunny on the coast – and although the weather plays a big part, it isn’t the main reason for UK holidays. Get across the great things there are in your area – especially those for when the weather is ‘untypical’!

(2) – emphasise what all-weather facilities you have yourself or locally.

2.Tweet your local weather.

3. Develop with all-weather in mind. Plan varied programmes throughout the year and introduce incentives for return visits.

4. Join the campaign.Talk to local media; remind them that incorrect, bad weather stories kill small businesses.

I know this topic is not new. People have been moaning about bad weather stories for decades.

But unless we start doing something, there is every possibility that in twenty years’ time the headlines will still be damaging the industry. And that is a sure-fire forecast.

(1) Newsworks.org.uk