Tourism - Spring 2013 - issue 153 by Tourism Society

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The Tourism Society Queens House, 55-56 Lincolnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3BH T 0207 269 9693 F 0207 404 2465 E journal@tourismsociety.org W www.tourismsociety.org Registered in England No. 01366846. ISSN: 02613700 Designed and produced by Script Media Group Contact Tony Barry 47 Church Street Barnsley S70 2AS T 01226 734333 E tb@scriptmedia.co.uk W www.scriptmedia.co.uk ÂŠ Copyright 2013 The Tourism Society Tourism is the journal of the Tourism Society.The views expressed in Tourism are those of individual authors and not necessarily those of the Tourism Society. Whilst unsolicited material is welcomed, neither transparencies nor unpublished articles can be returned. The Tourism Society cannot be held responsible for any services offered by advertisers in Tourism. All correspondence must be addressed to the Editor. Tourism is only available to members of the Tourism Society and on subscription, it is distributed quarterly to 1800 professionals working in national and regional tourist boards, local government, travel agencies, and tour operators, visitor attractions, accommodation and catering, entertainment, information services, guiding, consultancies and education and training.

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Editorial

Contents Tourism Consultants Network: Chairman’s notes Roger Goodacre FTS, Chairman,Tourism Consultants Network

The Moral of the Story: Lessons learned in a life of Consultancy Oliver Bennett FTS, Independent Consultant

Gamekeeper Turned Poacher:The Client-Consultant relationship is about chemistry, not physics 6-7 Mary Lynch FTS,Tourism Consultant (retired) Localism – The New Way?:Will the thrust of the localism agenda come to the aid of British tourism? 8-9 Prof.Victor T.C. Middleton OBE FTS, Author and Consultant in Tourism

Experience counts This issue of the Tourism Society Journal is sponsored by the Society members who have joined the Tourism Consultants Network (TCN). As our Society membership spans all sectors of tourism and all stages of personal involvement, from students to CEOs, experience of Tourism Consultants will vary widely. However, within the Society membership are many who have been directly involved in selecting, appointing and working with Tourism Consultants. Some Client relationships are distant, but the best are usually very close, with Clients and Consultants working together to refine the brief and deliver the project. The best, but often the most challenging, commissions involve working directly with powerful individuals who have the authority to determine both the questions, and the implementation of the answers. The most frustrating can be working for committees, where their decisions are often compromises, and the vested interests, personal enthusiasms and influences can preclude effective decision making. The best Consultants recognise these influences and, chameleonlike, adapt their presence and proposals into the language that can still achieve the right result. In the last decade of my thirty years of tourism consultancy, as the number of tourism graduates from university courses increased, every month would bring one or two aspirational letters. “Dear Mr Robinson, I have recently (or expect soon to have) graduated following my Tourism Course, and am seeking a position as a Tourism Consultant. I am very keen and would be the perfect person to join your team”. Commendable enthusiasm, but staggering naivety. My advice was always to offer encouragement to join their preferred industry sector, to gain the essential experience on which effective Consultancy depends. On the other hand, senior professionals leaving the industry have often become Consultants, their insights being especially valued within Consultant teams. Learning, knowledge, experience, advice, change, improvement. These six words describe the essence of what successful Consultants provide for their Clients. The key word for would-be Consultant recruits, at whatever age, is experience.This is also the key attribute for Clients to consider, when selecting the Consultants for their project. The nature of the services provided means that satisfied Clients are usually very happy to report their experiences of working

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New Tricks: Contemplations on a new career in Consultancy David Curtis-Brignell FTS, Business consultant – tourism & hospitality

Generalist versus Specialist?: Opinions differ at the TCN’s World Travel Market debate Roger Goodacre FTS, Roger Goodacre Associates

Sharing Tourism Expertise: Tourism Consultancy comes of age Ken Robinson CBE FTS

Tourism Consultants Network membership listing

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Public Sector Procurement – 1: Are Local Authorities’ cost-driven changes at the expense of quality, agility and innovation? 17 Andrew Bateman FTS,Tourism Manager, Hampshire Country Council Public Sector Procurement – 2:The nightmare for Consultants continues Chris Evans FTS, Director,The Tourism Company 18-19 Opening Up New Markets Abroad: Creating new partnerships for success Roger Carter MBE FTS Managing Director,TEAM Tourism Consulting 20-21 Tourism Consultants and Academics: An Underdeveloped Relationship? Dr Philip Long MTS, Associate Dean – Head of Tourism, Bournemouth University, and Peter Robinson MTS, Principal Lecturer and Head of Department, University of Wolverhampton 22-23 Membership news and AGM

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with Consultants and the outcome of their projects, so references, endorsements and recommendations are the basis for most Clients to draw up a list of potentially suitable Consultants. The area that gives Consultants greatest concern is probably the process of procurement, mainly for public sector work. Often Consultants are expected to provide voluminous preappointment information, attend interviews and explain their ideas for addressing the brief. Unwise and unscrupulous Clients have often engaged in fishing exercises for all the proposals they can extract from hopeful interviewees, and then produce a stew of them in a distorted project brief for the most compliant bidder. Within the last thirty-five years the new specialism of Tourism Consultancy has evolved greatly.The most experienced Consultants have delivered a large number of successful projects. Consultant-Client relationships, built on trust, are long-lasting. Often, some years after working with Clients, the Consultant’s phone will ring and a friendly and expectant voice will suggest a meeting: “I have a project, (or maybe a problem, or an opportunity), and you are just the person to help……” We hope you will enjoy what TCN members have to say in this sponsored edition of the Tourism Society Journal.

Ken Robsinson CBE FTS | Guest Editor, on behalf of TCN

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Tourism Consultants Network

Chairman’s notes With nearly 120 members, the Tourism Consultants Network is the biggest association of specialist tourism consultancy experts of its kind in Europe. Collectively we offer an impressive range of strategic and practical expertise, from policy advice for governments to technical assistance for tourism enterprises of all sizes. Most of us are self-employed or work in partnerships or small firms. Collectively we represent an invaluable resource in terms of specialist tourism expertise, but we recognise the need to market ourselves more consistently and effectively, in particular getting better value out of our searchable online database. As individuals, clearly we have a need to network and collaborate in order to keep abreast of opportunities and industry developments: it’s no surprise that TCN members are the biggest supporters of Tourism Society events. A new committee of six came together last August, representing a good cross-section of the membership and bringing the essential experience and enthusiasm needed to get things done. We have since met four times and initiated a number of activities designed to raise the TCN’s profile: Research: we conducted an online survey of all TCN and TS members in November to get an unambiguous understanding of members’ needs. It showed that greatest value was put on i) meetings/events, ii) the website and iii) the circulation of job opportunities. Events and networking: we organised a well-attended discussion meeting, open also to non-members, at the World Travel Market on the topic of ‘How to improve the client-customer relationship’, addressed by Chris Evans FTS (The Tourism Company), Dr Roger Carter FTS (TEAM Tourism) and Frederic Pierret (UNWTO). Other ideas for discussion/networking events are currently being researched by the committee, and we hope to stage two or three meetings in the coming weeks. Communication: we have created a bimonthly TCN newsletter, designed in part to allow members to communicate what

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TCN – Worldwide Experience. Worldclass Expertise. they are working on, two editions of which have been distributed.The minutes of every Committee Meeting have also been circulated to the membership. We have also edited and sponsored this edition of the Journal, distributed to 3000 readers. TCN website: the TCN web pages have been edited and refreshed.The searchable membership database is now fully functional after the TS website was moved to a new server.The pages include links to the TCN Constitution which includes a description of our key objectives, the members’ Declaration of Good Practice, and advice for clients on appointing a consultant. Job alerts: we are in the process of creating online links, where possible, to the portals and agencies that advertise tourism consultancy opportunities, both domestically and overseas. Discussions are also being pursued with international organisations and NGOs to investigate potential opportunities for communication and collaboration. Membership: the question of eligibility for TCN membership has regularly been dis-

Roger Goodacre FTS | Chairman,Tourism Consultants Network Issue 153 Spring 2013

cussed but no action taken: to date no membership qualifications have been specified.The situation has now changed, and we have decided to vet all applications, to ensure that candidates at least have a track record or appropriate tourism experience, and to enhance the credibility of our network. Insurance: research is being done into the availability of professional indemnity insurance for members, and the results will be communicated shortly. Despite rain and recession, tourism is thriving – one of the very few global industries that continues to grow, constantly offering opportunities in the UK and all around the world for the expertise that TCN members can offer. If you’re a consultant but not a member, do join us and bring your ideas. If you’re a potential client in need of expertise, please consult our web pages, or speak to the Tourism Society secretariat for informal guidance. Committee members 2012-13: Oliver Bennett FTS (Vice Chairman), Gerry Carver FTS, Chris Evans FTS, Ken Robinson OBE FTS, Peter Robinson MTS.

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The Moral of the Story...

Lessons learned in a life of Consultancy I leapt out of the Mil-Mi8 helicopter with my skis and sticks thrown out after me. As the helicopter disappeared out of sight, I reflected on my situation. I was on a Kyrgyz mountain top with pristine snow in every direction. But had I really adequately evaluated the risks of this enterprise? The European Bank was kindly footing the bill to help bring Kyrgyzstan's tourism into the modern world. This was 1994 and the notion of making a profit from a travel business was an alien idea. We only had to pay for the helicopter when it was in the air, not when it was waiting for us. But could we actually get down? And had I enquired whether the helicopter’s engines, due to be sent to Russia every 600 flying hours for maintenance, had actually been looked at lately? Russia was now a completely different country with a different currency.The more I reflected on the situation, the riskier this enterprise seemed to be. Did we deliver? Our team of tourism specialists helped educate both government and tiny fledgling private sector businesses. But we failed in delivering the Bank’s objective of providing loans to businesses that were at too early a stage to be able to repay the kind of funds that the Bank wished to lend. Moral #1. Organisations need to think carefully before bringing in consultants as to what they wish to achieve, and how practical their objectives are. Arriving in Huahine at nine in the morning after a sleepless night flight from Fiji via Tahiti, I joined the Club Med II to find that our client needed his speech for the opening of the inaugural South Pacific Tourism Conference. Moreover, he needed it in four hours’ time. Our team leader had taken umbrage that his young child was not allowed to board the cruise ship so he, wife and child had decamped, unbeknown to me, on the same plane that I had arrived on. Down in the bowels of the ship the speech was duly written –

The author in the South Pacific. and later delivered. Moral #2. Choose a consultancy team with care! Visiting the 13 countries of the South Pacific Tourism Organisation was for the most part ‘discovering paradise’, reflecting the strap line devised for the programme. But, en route to Papua New Guinea, I discovered in the guide book acquired en route that I needed a visa that I didn’t have. As an Australian business man was shot dead in the airport car park the week before I arrived, I thought it would be good if indeed I wasn’t let in. Not only was I allowed in, I found a hospitable welcome and a highly productive visit. Moral #3. Fortune favours the brave. Unusually, the steering committee meeting for one of my Middle Eastern projects was attended by the press. Looking for a pointer to demonstrate his finer points, our planner used the only item he could find which happened to be a broom.

Next morning I found on the centre of the front page of the leading newspaper our man with the broom and a somewhat sarcastic comment about the quality of our efforts. A week of profuse apologies followed. Moral #4.Take account of local sensibilities – your sense of humour may not be theirs! Pursuing a large bill that had been unpaid for getting on for two years, I sought out the relevant official in an African Ministry of Finance. As the meeting neared its end, I realised that he hadn’t any shoes. And it transpired that the funds allocated by the World Bank for our project had been spent on something else. Moral #5. If organisations wish the best outcome, ensure their consultants not only can be paid, but they are paid on time. And consultants should ensure the same! And what a joy the skiing was. Oliver Bennett FTS | Independent Consultant

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Issue 153 Spring 2013

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Gamekeeper Turned Poacher

The Client-Consultant relationship is about chemistry, not physics The decision to retire from tourism and close down my consultancy company has prompted a huge spring clean. As an inveterate hoarder this is particularly painful, but, as I plough through hundreds of files and thousands of documents, it has given me time to reflect on tourism and consultancy. Like many, I have been on both sides of the desk. At the English Tourism Council and, more recently, at Bath Tourism we turned to consultants for help. I found this really valuable as a way of bringing a world of experience and knowledge to bear in solving a problem. With consultants you are buying their time and independent thought â&#x20AC;&#x201C; things that are often in short supply in a busy organisation. Here are a few thoughts about how to get the best from consultants for those of you still labouring in the tourism vineyard. What makes it work? The consultancy relationship is about

chemistry, not physics. Never underestimate the importance of working with people you like and respect. In any project there will be tensions and tricky moments and that is when you need to be able to be honest without worrying about losing the contract or the timetable slipping.The investment that has been made in getting to know each other pays dividends. The dominance of tendering has made it difficult for everyone to take chemistry into account when appointing a consultant. Of course value for money is critical, but, in my view, more money is wasted trying to retrofit the brief to the consultants after placing a contract than is saved in tendering. I recognise that there is no prospect of this changing, but I would encourage organisations to go through a Preferred Supplier process every three years instead.This allows the organisation to

test the market and allows the consultants to build up a valuable working relationship as part of a team. Some consultants say that this is not fair as it locks out the smaller suppliers. My company went through such a process with the London Development Agency and I would disagree.The process was tortuous and bureaucratic but the LDA included in the criteria a weighting towards smaller organisations and at the end of the process 3 of the 10 companies appointed were small. Why? As I became more experienced I realised that many contracts are placed without the organisation or individuals really deciding what they wanted and so the first weeks are lost. A few questions that might help a client: I Is this project about getting a job done or about challenging our thinking? If we

Match your team to the project

Issue 153 Spring 2013

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A very big client - launch of the Bedfordshire Tourism Strategy at Woburn. are challenged are we ready to listen? Is this an “I told you so” project? This is where you are feeling frustrated, have been telling the board that there are problems, but they are not listening.You want the consultant to produce some impressive charts and data supporting your view in the hope that it will be listened to. Is this a “Business Case” project? This is bread and butter work for most consultants that requires collating information, providing benchmarks and distilling the choices with a recommendation. Is this an “I don’t know” project? These are less common, but an example might be a brief to look 15-20 years ahead. The benefit of this is that it will focus the mind on the core skills that really matter and will improve your chances of success. If a project is about getting a job done you need a person or team that understands the issues but will focus on the end result. If you want the board to pay attention, it means that your lead consultant must be an excellent communicator with charm and credibility. If you need a lot of number crunching look for people who will do an enormous amount of analysis, but can distil the results onto a few pages – less really is more. If your project is really open ended then make sure you have at least one ‘wild card’ on the team so that you don’t end up with the same solution as everyone else.

vert that into a comparison with their own salary and then feel cheated or jealous. (This is much more likely if the consultant was appointed by someone else.) If a consultant charges £500 per day it does NOT mean that they are earning £130,000 per year. As a very general guide the consultant earns about one third of their daily rate. This is because any business needs to spend time winning contracts, handling administration, travelling, keeping up to date and paying corporation tax on any profits – not many of us have offshore tax havens. For clients, I think it is useful to reflect on the kind of person you would have given this job to if it had been done in house. If that person is senior enough to earn £40,000 per year then you should expect to pay between £400 and £500 per day to get a consultant that will deliver a similar quality result. If the budget is a problem, an easy way to negotiate on fees is to guarantee to pay invoices quickly. I never had any problems, but I was amazed at how few clients understood cashflow. The ideal consultant

How much!

Such a creature does not exist but over time you will be called upon to be a referee, a psychologist, a diplomat, a lateral thinker, have a world view, be able to distil complex ideas into options and choices, be realistic about implementation, run an efficient secretariat and have the patience of a saint.

Pricing is a really tricky issue. Clients sometimes look at a daily rate and con-

This is why it is always better to have at least two people in a team as they can

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Issue 153 Spring 2013

complement each other and have someone to moan to about the client. The frustrations Most consultants are very committed and want to see action taken as a result of any recommendations. It is very frustrating when a project hits the buffers, but in real life there are occasions when a report is commissioned in order to be seen to be doing something, with little commitment to action behind it. In these days of austerity few consultants can turn down work, but what a waste. As a client my frustrations were jargon, huge reports and people telling me that they would not have started from here. Where next? I subscribe to the pendulum theory – in other words lean years are followed by years of plenty. I am not sure that we will see the heady days of Regional Development Agency spending any time soon, but confidence will return and businesses will want to invest.They will look for skills that are in short supply and will need consultancy support. I am not sure I would put my pension on consultancy futures, but I think the very tough times will end in the next 18 months and the cycle will start again. I have had the most wonderful career in tourism, had great fun, learned a lot and met some fantastic people along the way, but I am happy to be leaving the future to others – they will do a great job. I am off to cause havoc in the charity world – daily rate £0 – but they say the rewards are good in heaven!

Mary Lynch FTS | Tourism Consultant (retired)

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Localism – The New Way?

Will the thrust of the localism agenda come to the aid of British tourism? Council budgets face a growing squeeze in the next two years amid spending cuts and soaring demand for public services. 1 At the start of 2013 there is hope that UK domestic and inbound tourism will build on the Olympics Year legacy and that we will see significant growth in employment and contribution to GDP over the next two or three years. It seems fair to say most if not all the business sectors of accommodation, attractions, restaurants and cafés, transport, specialist retail, and much of the performing arts are poised to play their parts. Many of these service providers in the visitor economy have had recent investment and probably offer higher overall quality and customer service than at any time in the last quarter of a century. The Games lifted perceptions of the British destination welcome. If that is sustained the promotional messages orchestrated by VisitBritain and VisitEngland are underpinned by real product strength in the ‘tourism industries.’ On the other hand, much of the product base that brands and trades on attractive images and people’s expectations of ‘specialness of place’ is now weak and in many places deteriorating. Specialness of place reflects local character, architecture and the appearance of what is available to visit as public spaces. Global branding of many retail, hospitality and catering outlets makes so many places look the same, putting greater emphasis on the retained individuality and character. It is perceptions of the attractiveness and quality of destinations that stimulate expectations and motivate people to visit or revisit a destination. Accommodation and other services provided for visitors, however excellent, are mostly secondary motivations. Of course, if it’s the West End or City of London or centres of

Public space helps establish a destination’s character Edinburgh, Cardiff or York (and other cities with recent public realm investment) the sheer range and quality of famous iconic buildings and public spaces provides the essential experiential platform on which visitor services in the private sector can build and prosper. But if we consider the quality of much of urban and rural public spaces in Britain it’s a different picture.The product base of destinations, their environmental, cultural and heritage appeal, are mostly not managed by the ‘tourism industries’ as defined by Government. They are controlled by local authorities and other public bodies. Often overlooked or neglected for many years as

Issue 153 Spring 2013

low priority, ‘specialness’ in the public realm is now everywhere subject to budget cuts. In many areas of the countryside and in towns and villages, the streetscapes, public spaces, parks and gardens and the universal clutter of signage makes the public realm generally look tired and down at heel. Cuts in spending on street cleansing, public toilets and related services provided for residents and visitors alike will worsen the position. Add traffic congestion and high parking charges (many now in force 24 hours a day) and the destination offer loses appeal. Most charitable institutions in the cultural and heritage sector are in the

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08&09

Manchester - Castlefield urban heritage same position, coping with budget reductions of up to 30% and some, no longer funded by local authorities, are closing down. Over the next three years – and probably longer – the ability of most public sector bodies to maintain even the weakening quality of what they have now, let alone invest in any improvements, is limited. In the short run this may not make a massive impact on visitor expenditure. In the longer run it will fatally undermine the platform on which a successful visitor economy contributing jobs and taxes for local and central Government has to be built. “Death by a thousand cuts” may be hyperbole but it is what is happening right now to the public realm by a cumulative process of decline and neglect. Support for tourism, still too often perceived by local and national politicians as a peripheral business of short breaks and holidays, has never been a statutory duty for local authorities in England. In many of them the word tourism is still negative and closes minds. In austerity times it has led to cutting traditional local authority expenditure on (mainly holiday) tourism services as well as maintenance and other services in the public realm. Other mandatory services are given priority. If there are positives in all this they probably lie in the localism thrust of the current Government. As our President Lord Thurso noted recently2 “Westminster doesn’t get tourism…never will.” Fortunately it is possible to detect a growing bottom-up recognition of the visitor economy by economic regenera-

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tion and development teams now working in local authorities, especially where partnership with local businesses as in BIDs and LEPs is involved.Today’s local priority is to develop overall strategies and plans for economic growth that this Government does understand – it’s the local economy, stupid. Where, for the purpose of planning for economic regeneration, the local economy in all its aspects is evaluated as a whole, the visitor economy (not just tourism) emerges in all its 21st century manifestations. Year round day and staying visitors and the money they spend for business, conferences, education, holidays, short breaks, shopping, sport, recreation, the arts and night life, are no longer peripheral or even optional. They are now a fundamental part of the warp and woof of all local economies.Visitor expenditure in its overall sense is often a key input to all other growth prospects. What attracts visitors also attracts inward investment and appeals to the local community. This article is not a call for more funding for tourism. It’s not going to happen.* It is a call for better understanding of the modern visitor economy and the motivating quality of the public realm locally as the core platform for satisfying visitor experiences that also generates and sustains overall economic growth. Local authorities do have statutory responsibility for the quality of ‘place’ of their residents.There is a clear role for consultants in this. I have been fortunate enough to work with destinations as a consultant for many years and in helping

Issue 153 Spring 2013

secure the data now available locally to support the case for better understanding of the visitor economy. Tourism consultants advising on inputs to economic plans for local government can play a key part in this shift of attitude by changing the traditional view of tourism in its holiday forms to the visitor economy not only as a core part of the wider local economy but also of the quality of life of residents and a foundation for inward investment. Westminster may still not ‘get it’ but hardpressed local authorities grappling to achieve the priority of economic growth in partnerships with local businesses and LEPs, just might. * It is interesting, however, to note that the Government has just found £30 million to improve cycle routes in cities. Why not a public realm/specialness of place scheme? It is not difficult to envisage a challenge scheme, open to all destinations with, say, six winners who would each undertake a specific public realm project justified by a combination of specialness of place, economic growth and visitor economy relevance. That would fit the Government’s view of supply-based infrastructure investment designed specifically to support and promote enterprise and growth in the private sector. The experience and outcomes of successful bids could be used to extoll examples of national good practice. 1 The Times; 30.01.13 2 Tourism; Issue 152; Winter 2012

Prof.Victor T.C. Middleton OBE FTS | Author and Consultant in Tourism

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New Tricks

Contemplations on a new career in Consultancy Finding out how to get started as a consultant is really easy.You just Google “How to become a consultant” and you will immediately get 145,000,000 answers. If that’s a bit too much you simply insert the word ‘tourism’ before ‘consultant’ and this reduces the number of options to a more manageable 30,800,000. A lot of these refer to countries other than the UK and a glance through the first few million will reveal that, to some people, a tourism consultant is a posh name for a travel agent. So, narrowing down to the UK produces a mere 5,370,000 results which of course is a lot more helpful. I had done some consultancy work once before, between jobs, and remember the great satisfaction to be found in going into someone else’s company for a couple of days, reviewing their systems, practices, procedures, paper-trails and marketing and then writing a comprehensive report which included a lot of things that the MD wanted to see and a few they didn’t. And I remember sending the invoice and paying in the cheque. What I had missed out on during that experience was that I had not had to competitively pitch for the job (having been called direct by the MD) and then having to pitch for more work to do once that project ended – because I accepted another full-time salaried role and treated my ‘consultancy period’ as an enjoyable interlude. So here we are, over 15 years later and adding the following to my biographical details “… is now happily offering his marketing and development experience across the industry to the benefit of tourism and hospitality businesses as a consultant. David is also looking to undertake non-executive, development, NGO and public speaking roles.” Well, I can report that I have been doing more public speaking roles. And I have continued with the unpaid roles I had before becoming ‘self-unemployed’ namely chairing The Tourism Society Board,VisitEngland’s steering group for ‘English Tourism Week’

Tap into the network and sitting on three other industry advisory panels. Obviously all of this is excellent networking, an essential activity for all successful consultants. And obviously I have more emails than hot dinners telling me that “with all my contacts in the industry…..” But that does not create consultancy work that isn’t there. One of the early reality-checks was meeting a long-standing and highly regarded consultant on a Tube train last summer. He was experiencing the first period in his consultancy career where he had absolutely no work. He was making use of his enforced free time by taking several years’ holidays simultaneously, but catching up with him later in the autumn I found he was still on vacation. So how do you get started? One of the first things was to join The Tourism Society’s Consultants’ Network which has undergone a revival and I believe is an essential step to be seen as a professional.

David Curtis-Brignell FTS | Business consultant tourism & hospitality Issue 153 Spring 2013

Having undertaken a phased email and direct mail campaign to my contact list I began the networking process, ensuring I attended key events and registering on procurement sites. I have in the past appointed consultants so I know the process, what a proposal looks like and how to put reports together. One of the more difficult issues though concerns the touchy subject of money. How much does a consultant charge nowadays? How do you estimate the time that would be needed for a specific project and cost it accordingly? Should I have professional indemnity insurance? The other question that must confront all ‘new’ consultants is how to get that first piece of work without the benefit of references and testimonials from existing clients. There appear to be two ways of finding out the answers to these questions – talk to fellow Tourism Society members, or perhaps start going through the 5.37million Google options!

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Generalist Versus Specialist?

Opinions differ at TCN’s World Travel Market debate The Tourism Consultants Network staged the first seminar for tourism consultants from around the world at WTM in November 2012. Frederic Pierret, speaking for the UN World Tourism Organisation, made the case for tourism consultancy assignments to be delivered by a team of specialists in the necessary disciplines; but I am not so sure. The past 30 years have seen remarkable growth in global tourism – with the developing world's share of arrivals rising from 30% in 1980 to 47% by 2011, largely at the expense of established destinations in advanced economies (UNWTO,Tourism Highlights, 2012). Driving this trend are many inter-related factors, among them the tumbling cost of airfares and huge expansion of routes, the opening of frontiers, the Internet-driven information distribution and booking revolution, the growth of the backpacker market, fast-growing demand for travel in the BRIC economies, and changing consumer tastes including significant demand for adventure, specialist activities and new destinations.The realisation among developing nations that tourism can be a significant generator of foreign revenues, investment and employment, and that it needs to be properly planned and managed in order to maximise returns on investment, has led to the involvement of a wide range of international organisations and national development agencies in the funding or management of tourism development projects (the TCN committee is creating online links to many of these for the benefit of its members). This in turn has resulted in increasing demand for technical expertise in all areas of tourism development. Happily for independent consultants, some agencies have modified their appointment policy in recent years, from working principally with consultancy firms to assembling and managing teams made up of independent experts. Less happily however, the procedures for actually winning an assignment are too often Byzantine and hugely time consuming. It's very much chicken and egg: if you haven't had experience of the same type of assignment or the same

Roger Goodacre at the Uganda tourism policy consultation workshop geographical market area, you're unlikely resources and tourism skills are the norm. If you're leading a multi-disciplinary team, to be considered – so getting a foot in responsible for coordinating and drafting the door is often a question of luck, assidthe final outputs, clearly a general underuous networking and perseverance. standing of what your specialist colleagues What sort of expertise is in demand? In can be expected to deliver is essential, the field in which I do most work – destiwhether in the fields of planning, product nation development – the requirements development, marketing and branding, are generally for strategic, implementation economic or statistical analysis, capacity or technical advice. Specialist technical building, or institutional and regulatory skills, in areas such as information distribureform. A wider awareness is also desirtion technology, data collection and analyable among specialists. Planners who prosis systems, etc, are widely sought after. pose golf courses in unlikely places, or But many emerging markets require wideadvocates of Community Based Tourism ranging advice on putting in place, or who persuade remote communities to updating, their basic tourism infrastructure change their livelihoods because tourists and regulatory framework and creating an will surely beat a path to their villages – environment for growth. scenarios I’ve come across more than once – can unwittingly do more damage This usually involves the drafting of than good if they don’t take account of, tourism policy and/or a detailed tourism or consult on, wider marketing and cost development master plan. In this area, and implications and societal impacts. related assignments such as a scoping mission, situation analysis or project evaluaThe demand for tourism expertise is tion, the key requisites are a broad knowlevolving, in line with the maturing of the edge of the business of tourism, together global tourism sector and technological with an awareness of the realities of what advances, but experts with a broad peris feasible in developing countries where spective will always have a key part to severe limitations in terms of financial play.

Roger Goodacre FTS | Roger Goodacre Associates

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Issue 153 Spring 2013

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Sharing Tourism Expertise

Tourism Consultancy comes of age It may not be the oldest profession… but probably the accommodation provider had some Consultancy advice on diversification during the Jerusalem census, before letting their manger out when there was no room at the Inn! But the evolution of Tourism Consultancy is very recent.The fact is that unlike most professions that are long established, the activities of tourism have really only developed in the last 50 years, as a consequence of paid holidays, greater disposable income, increased leisure time, and the freedom and ability to travel at home and abroad, swiftly and safely. Mass international tourism ‘took off ’ after Jumbo Jets first flew in 1969.That was also the year when a Labour Government passed the Development of Tourism Act and the British Tourist Authority, the English, Wales and Scottish Tourist Boards were born, with the Regional Tourist Boards being formed shortly thereafter. The management of most tourism activities, apart from Hotelkeeping, was also fairly new. Famous historic landmarks were places of curiosity and pilgrimage, and curators curated – but the only ‘professionals’ in the Attractions sector were fairground owners and the increasingly impecunious members of the aristocracy who had succumbed to tempting the hoi polloi into their stately homes for their shillings. Most people working in tourism ‘learned on the job’.

serve the evolving tourism businesses, the major accountancy and property management firms also created Tourism Consulting divisions.

So in the 1960s and 1970s, with such a new industry, and outside the Hotel sector, there were very few Consultants, although their number increased in the 1970s.These were also the early days for the teaching of tourism; there were few textbooks on the shelves and few courses in Tourism. Our Tourism Society was founded in 1978, following meetings between an enthusiastic and committed group of Academics and professionals working in what was then a pioneering and fast-growing new industry.

Many people involved in tourism were ‘amateurs’, finding themselves unexpectedly responsible for the development and running of tourism enterprises. Councillors managing community assets found they were dependent on tourism. Landowners were becoming increasingly reliant on the income from visitors. Local crafts and traditions that were losing their local customers were increasingly of interest to visitors. Consultants therefore had an ever greater supply of quite naïve but needy clients.This was very fertile ground for creating satisfied customers, as the external analytical mind of a suitably experienced Consultant could readily identify changes that could transform performance and profitability.

By 1980 there were just 35 Consultants among the total Society membership of 453. Most Consultants worked independently or in teams with a few colleagues.To

As the economic values associated with tourism business grew, so its potential as a catalyst for beneficial economic development and regeneration became more

Ken Robinson CBE FTS | Independent Tourism Adviser Issue 153 Spring 2013

widely appreciated.The days of the feasibility study were born, with Consultants being expected to devise and define ideal projects and concepts.The best Consultants have always been able to do this, and demonstrate a solid track record of success. However, Consultants had to be chosen with care, shunning the few who indulged in the profitable activity of ‘telling the Client what they wanted to hear’, with excessive predictions of popularity, often at the behest of greedy architects and other professional advisers whose fees were project-cost-related. Meanwhile the general level of expertise among UK Tourism Consultants has matured and they have developed an international reputation for excellence. Our services have always been in demand throughout the Commonwealth and the English-speaking world, with developing nations and regions appreciating that the best of Britain’s Tourism Consultants are not just world class, they are world beaters.

journal@tourismsociety.org

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THE TOURISM SOCIETY

TOURISM CONSULTANTS NETWORK The Tourism Consultants Network (TCN) is the largest association of consultant tourism experts in Europe, with some 120 members. Collectively they provide strategic and technical expertise in most areas of the ever-growing and highly diversified tourism sector, from advising start-up enterprises to drafting government policy. The Network’s core objectives are to enhance the profile, reputation and professional standards of its consultants and to facilitate business opportunities through networking and promotional activity. Consultants who wish to join the TCN are vetted and are required to commit to a code of ethics – the Declaration of Good Practice. The following three pages list current TCN members. Details of the services and experience they offer – together with advice on how to appoint a consultant – are easy to find by using the online

database at www.tourismsociety.org/consultants. Consultants can be searched by Skills and/or Sectors, which include the following: Skills Branding Customer Relationship Management E-business and online marketing Feasibility studies Interpretation, content and information services Investment strategy IT systems and website development Market research and statistics Marketing strategy and planning Policy formulation & strategic planning Project management Quality Assurance and service standards Sustainable tourism development

Town planning Training and skills development Sectors Arts and culture Conferences and meetings Destinations Eco tourism Events and festivals Food, drink and restaurants Government Holiday parks Hotels Leisure parks and commercial attractions Museums Retail and shopping Rural and agro tourism Sport and active leisure Transport

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Stan Abbott MTS Gravity Consulting Ltd stan@gravity-consulting.com 0191 383 2838 www.gravity-consulting.com

David Bloy MTS The Tourism Company dbloy@thetourismcompany.com 01531 635 451 www.thetourismcompany.com

Tom Burnham MTS CTB Associates tom@ctbglobal.co.uk 01896 848 159 www.ctbglobal.co.uk

Alessandra Alonso MTS TEAM Tourism Consulting alessandraalonso@yahoo.com 07801 269 374 www.team-tourism.com

Nick Booker MTS Attract Marketing Ltd nick@attractmarketing.co.uk 01926 864 900 www.attractmarketing.co.uk

Alison Caffyn MTS alison.caffyn@gmail.com 01568 611 575 www.alisoncaffyn.co.uk

David Andrews FTS Andrews Associates david@andrewsassociates.co.uk 01904 466 974 www.andrewsassociates.co.uk

Nicola Bowen Rees MTS Sulis Projects Ltd and Freelance nbowenrees@btinternet.com 07590 030 258 www.sulisprojects.com

Judith Annett MTS Countryside Consultancy countryside.consultancy@btinternet. com 028 4176 3262

Catherine Bowie FTS Catherine Bowie Training Services c.bowie@blueyonder.co.uk 0131 657 4161 www.catherinebowietrainingservices. com

Gilbert Archdale FTS ASW Consulting gilbert.archdale@gmail.com 01747 853 459 Robin Barker FTS Services for Tourism rbarker@services4tourism.co.uk 07870 397 438 www.services4tourism.co.uk Tony Barnfield MTS Hotel Restaurant and Wine Consultant personal@tonybarnfield.co.uk 01366 385 350 Tim Bartlett FTS Tourism Hotels and Translations S.L. timcbartlett@hotmail.com +34 9 163 68497 Richard Batchelor FTS batchelor@easynet.co.uk 0207 226 8982 Peter Beasley MTS tourismsolutions@tiscali.co.uk www.tourismsolutions.net Lionel Becherel FTS lbecherel@msn.com Abhishek Behl MTS Conservation Footprints abhishekbehl.k@gmail.com 0131 202 6438 www.conservationfootprints.com Oliver Bennett FTS odbennett@hotmail.com 0208 944 2870 www.oliverbennetttourism.com Moira Birtwistle MTS moira.birtwistle@sruc.ac.uk 01292 886 184 www.sac.ac.uk

Jill Britton MTS Britton McGrath Associates jill@brittonmcgrath.co.uk 0203 416 5012 www.brittonmcgrath.co.uk Chris Brown FTS Turpin Smale Catering & Conference Consultants chris.brown@turpinsmale.co.uk 0207 620 0011 www.turpinsmale.co.uk Kevin Brown MTS Planning Solutions Consulting Ltd. kevin@pslplan.co.uk 02392 481 999 www.pslplan.co.uk Robert Brown FTS robertgbrown@gmail.com 01323 735 666 Paul Buchanan FTS Hall Aitken paul.buchanan@hallaitken.co.uk 0141 225 5517 www.hallaitken.co.uk Kathryn Bullock MTS Face Marketing kathrynbullock@btinternet.com 0207 274 6302 www.face-marketing.com Tom Buncle FTS Yellow Railroad tom@yellowrailroad.com 0131 447 1721 www.yellowrailroad.com Alison Burgh MTS Acorn Tourism Consulting Ltd alison@acorntourism.co.uk 01580 879 978 www.acorntourism.co.uk

Issue 153 Spring 2013

Benjamin Carey FTS Dunira Strategy benjamin@dunira.com 0845 370 8076 www.dunira.com Roger Carter MBE FTS TEAM Tourism Consulting rogercarter@team-tourism.com 0131 552 2548 www.team-tourism.com Gerry Carver FTS L & R International gc@lrinternational.co.uk 01903 779 933 www.lrinternational.co.uk Phil Coates MTS phil@walestg.com 01633 774 796 www.walestourguides.com Jay Commins MTS Pyper York Limited jay@pyperyork.co.uk 0113 2515 698 www.pyperyork.co.uk Caroline Cooper MTS caroline@naturallyloyal.com 07887 540 914 www.zealcoaching.com Iain Cottam MTS Falconhurst Consulting iain.cottam@falconhurst consulting.com 07798 638 533 Ann Crome MTS Revenue Solutions ann.crome@druryhouse.plus.com 07876 038 658 www.openallhours.info Chris Cross FTS tcmcross@aol.com 01993 709 820 Susan Cross MTS TellTale susan@telltale.co.uk 01298 70376 Stuart Crouch FTS stuart@stuartcrouch.com 0207 610 6991

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Alison Cryer FTS Representation Plus / First PR alison@representationplus.co.uk 0208 877 4507 www.representationplus.co.uk David Curtis-Brignell FTS davidcurtisb@gmail.com 07710 052 628 Carolyn Custerson MTS English Riviera Tourism Company carolyn.custerson@btinternet.com 07968 261 845 www.carolyncusterson.co.uk Philip Deighton FTS Deighton International info@deighton-international.com 01489 570 289 www.deighton-international.com Richard Denman FTS The Tourism Company rdenman@thetourismcompany.com 01531 635 451 www.thetourismcompany.com Crispian Emberson MTS Heritage Destination Consulting Ltd hd.consulting@btinternet.com 0871 218 0817 www.heritagedestination.com Chris Evans FTS The Tourism Company cevans@thetourismcompany.com 01531 635 451 www.thetourismcompany.com Martin Evans FTS The Tourism Business martin@thetourismbusiness.com 01531 635 451 www.thetourismcompany.com Elizabeth Federighi MTS LinguaConnect Ltd efederighiuk@aol.com Jim Fletcher MTS Fletcher Associates Int.Tourism Dev. Consultants jim.fletcher@btinternet.com 0208 940 9837 David Friesner FTS David Friesner Management Consultancy d.friesner@ntlworld.com 07906 535523 www.dfriesner.co.uk John Gallery FTS Great Potential johngallery@greatpotential.co.uk 01904 607 530 www.greatpotential.co.uk

Max Gaunt FTS RGA Consulting max.gaunt@rgaconsulting.co.uk 0131 434 1115

Mandy Lane FTS mandy.lane@live-tourism.co.uk 01628 624 948 www.live-tourism.co.uk

Michael Glen FTS Touchstone Heritage Management Consultants glentigstane@aol.com 01738 440 111

Jonathan Langston FTS jonathan.langston@trihc.com 0207 892 2201 www.trihospitality.com

Roger Goodacre FTS Roger Goodacre Associates rgamarketing@sky.com 0208 785 7211 Brian Gurnett FTS Eco International Ltd bgurnett@netlab.co.uk 01442 245 457 Cathy Guthrie FTS Cathy Guthrie Associates cathy-guthrie@o2.co.uk 01467 620 769 Habeeb Habash FTS Yamamah Consulting hfhabash@yahoo.com 07927 236 473 Eleanor Harris MTS I-Xperience Ltd eleanor.harris@i-xperience.co.uk 0207 585 0800 Ray Heath MTS Ray Heath Associates Ltd enquiries@rayheathassoc.co.uk 01335 360 554 www.rayheathassoc.co.uk Ian Henderson FTS TTC International henderson@ttcinternational.com 02891 474 080 www.ttcinternational.com David Howell FTS DHA Consultancy dhasocltd@aol.com 01237 421 347 www.dhaconsultancy.co.uk Daniel Humphreys MTS Daniel Humphreys djmhumphreys@gmail.com 07818 067 022 Arwel Jones MTS arwel@celtic.co.uk 01248 722 632 Kevin Kaley FTS kevin@tourismukltd.com 08456 806 837 www.tourismukltd.com Andrew Keeling MTS ACK Tourism ack.tourism@btinternet.com 01522 789 702

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Issue 153 Spring 2013

Polly Larner FTS pollylarner@btinternet.com 01787 469 809 www.plp.uk.com Andrew Lloyd Hughes MTS TruTourism.com andrew@trutourism.com 07747 866 052 www.trutourism.com Alan Love FTS a.love921@btinternet.com 0208 949 6064 Marc Mallam FTS marc@mallam-co.com 01254 878 416 www.mallam-co.com Alexandra Marr MTS Alexandra Marr & Associates amarr@alexandramarr.com 0207 561 8891 Michael McCormick MTS AzurEurope michael@azureurope.com 07873 391 821 www.azureurope.com Nancy McGrath MTS nancy@brittonmcgrath.co.uk 0203 416 5012 www.brittonmcgrath.co.uk Jennifer Medcalf MTS Tall Poppies Scotland Ltd jen@tallpoppies-scotland.co.uk 0131 449 7377 www.tallpoppies-scotland.co.uk Andrew Meredith MTS A Meredith Associates ameredithassociates@tiscali.co.uk 01684 575 842 Kevin Millington MTS Acorn Tourism Consulting Ltd kevin@acorntourism.co.uk 01580 879 970 www.acorntourism.co.uk Sean Morgan MTS Lynn Jones Research Ltd sean@ljresearch.co.uk 0131 623 6238 www.ljresearch.co.uk Andrew Palmer MTS andrew@palmersquared.co.uk 07913 397 541 www.palmersquared.co.uk

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Susan Parker Johnston MTS Vinous Development (previously Business Development Associates) susanpj@webmail.co.za 01285 770 596 Geoff Parkinson FTS gsp@parkinson1.co.uk 07831 301 508 Paul Ridoutt FTS Eurofield International Management Consultants paulridoutt@compuserve.com +64 (0)21 190 7398 Wyn Roberts MTS Marchnata AQUA Marketing Ltd wyn@aqua-marketing.co.uk 0845 812 7181 www.aqua-marketing.co.uk John Robinson MTS robinsonjh@halcrow.com +971 509 962 854 www.johnrobinson.co.uk Ken Robinson CBE FTS krobinsonlrt@gmail.com 02380 898 980 Peter Robinson MTS LPR Associates enquiries@leisureandtourism.co.uk 07944 284 042 www.leisureandtourism.co.uk Mark Sandberg MTS mark@sandberg-consulting.com 01622 808 785 www.sandberg-consulting.com Lynn Scrivener FTS lynscriv@btclick.com 0208 579 5381 Amanda Shepherd MTS Blue Sail amanda.shepherd@bluesail.com 01273 382 168 www.bluesail.com Colin Smith MTS The Glamis Consultancy colin@theglamisconsultancy.com 01307 840 343 www.glamisconsultancy.com Nikki Smith MTS nikki@flamingo-marketing.co.uk 01872 510 489 www.flamingo-marketing.co.uk Bogda Smreczak MTS IDWales bogda_smreczak@hotmail.com 07540 952 613 idwales.com Hugh Somerville FTS somervillehugh@aol.com 01628 850 694

Sandy Steven FTS sandy@tourism-resources.co.uk 0141 353 1143 www.tourism-resources.co.uk Alastair Stevenson FTS Marketing Planning Associates alastairstevenson@mpaconsulting.co. uk 01989 780 699 www.mpaconsultimg.co.uk Michael Stickland FTS info@pslplan.co.uk 023 9248 1999 www.pslplan.co.uk Martin Taylor MTS GVA (Hotels & Leisure Team) martin.taylor@gva.co.uk 07920 824 273 Veronica Tonge MTS V R I T Associates Ltd veronica@vritassociates.com 07967 827 221 www.vritassociates.com James Turner MTS Hidden Britain hiddenbritaindm@sercc.org.uk 01342 893 477 www.hiddenbritainse.co.uk John Vimpany FTS Exhibition Consultants Ltd jrvimpany@btinternet.com 0207 886 3000 Helene Von Magius Mogelhoj FTS vonmagic@rocketmail.com 01424 424 511 helenemogelhoj.com

Julia Watson FTS julia-watson@btconnect.com 0208 455 7684 Chris Wikeley FTS Quality Counts Consultancy chriswikeley@qualitycounts.f9.co.uk 01264 335 188 Martin Williams MTS Martin Williams Marketing Ltd. martin_williams@me.com 07941 214898 www.martinwilliamsmarketing.com Fiona Wilton FTS fionawilton@btopenworld.com 01600 860 341 www.traveltrainingservices.com Zheng Xie MTS xiezheng@ymail.com +86 10 872 57889 Frances Young MTS Nathaniel Lichfield and Partners fyoung@nlpplanning.com 0207 837 4477 www.nlpplanning.com Abiodun Odusanwo MTS Tourism Development Foundation Ltd abiodus@hotmail.co.uk 07932 649 106 Keith Brown MTS Visit East Anglia keith@visiteastanglia.net 0333 320 4202 www.eet.org.uk Paul Follows MTS Red Carpet Concepts Ltd. paul.follows@btinternet.com 01892 661 532

Linda Walker MTS Owl Research Ltd linda@owlresearch.co.uk 01259 743 885 www.owlresearch.co.uk

Eileen Hinson FTS The Leisure Consultancy eileenhinson@leisureconsulting.co.uk 0843 2891 606

John Walsh-Heron FTS Tourism Quality Services Ltd jwalshheron@btconnect.com 02920 755 974

Caron Porritt MTS Implement Marketing Limited caron@implementmarketing.co.uk 01403 878 041

Kenneth Wardrop MTS Kenneth Wardrop Consultancy and Contracting kennethwardrop@gmail.com 01786 470 975 www.kennethwardrop.co.uk

Amy Scarth MTS Big Beyond amy@bigbeyond.org 01803 712 155

Graham Wason FTS rgwason@tourismrespect.com 07977 040 579 www.allbeingwell.com Ian Watson MTS CMF Consulting iwatson@cmfconsulting.co.uk 01968 675 269

Issue 153 Spring 2013

Stephen Sambrook MTS Genua Madrigal Ltd info@genuamadrigal.co.uk 0208 286 6589 www.gemextra.co.uk Edith Szivas MTS eszivas@hotmail.com +971 505 099 691

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Public Sector Procurement – 1

Are Local Authorities’ cost-driven changes at the expense of quality, agility and innovation? The pendulum around procurement (and much else in business management) continuously swings between centralised and de-centralised approaches. In local government we’ve gone from Compulsory Competitive Tendering to Best Value and now Sir Philip Green’s ‘buying for government is just like buying for Top Shop, so all purchasing should be centralised to reduce cost’. Whilst many would agree that having one contract to buy paperclips across central government and that local authorities should form buying consortia to purchase A4 copier paper is pretty uncontroversial, there are (as always) unintended consequences. And, believe it or not, this does have a bearing on – what are often – small boutique tourism consultancies. The Government’s transparency agenda maintains that the public sector has to publish online all individual items of expenditure over £500.The dogma is that this will lead to a wealth of new public sector contracts for suppliers to bid for, although there is more to this than meets the eye. Are consultants really going to want to enter a competitive exercise for contracts of £501 to (say) £1,000 and is it really good use of public money for officers is to be writing detailed briefs for every piece of work of this value? And many smaller consultancies will have relied on small value contracts that will often have been issued as waivers to Contract Standing Orders by public bodies.This low value work is what is often needed quickly to move projects forward in organisations that are undergoing considerable change through re-structuring or job-losses. But, always ready with an answer to a problem, the public sector procurement officer says to his increasingly stressed colleagues, ‘Don’t worry about all of this, we’ve got the solution for you. Why don’t we develop a 5-year professional services framework contract from which you can just make call-off purchases as and when you need them, so negating the need to run a series of small competitive procurement exercises?’The issue is that this form of centralisation is likely to see large man-

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Will local tourism projects cope with procurement changes? agement consultancies winning contracts development of submissions. as they’ll offer a broad range of services But cutting costs is such a high priority for across a range of disciplines (eg economic public sector organisations at the moment development strategies, strategic transthat they are increasingly inclined to seek port and infrastructure planning).There the prize of lower procurement costs at are likely to be very few organisations the expense of quality, agility and innovawith enough tourism-specific projects to tion. So, what was a well-meaning policy in make it worthwhile developing a tourism attempting to open up public sector conconsultancy framework contract. And if tracts to the market place could either national or regional public sector buying result in the work’s not being externalised consortia did decide to develop a framebecause the public sector officer doesn’t work contract for tourism consultancy, have the time to manage the procurewould tourism consultants want a situament process; the most appropriate tion where only a couple of firms were tourism consultants don’t think it is worth responding because the project is too on the supplier list? I doubt it. Surely it small; or tourism consultants get bybenefits the development of tourism if passed full-stop in favour of multi-national we’re able to seek ‘round pegs for round consultancy outfits.The result is that the holes’ and appoint the best person for the work either doesn’t get done or it gets job? Reducing the costs of procurement done badly, and the end result is that can also lead to the larger contracts being tourism suffers. But give it time and there advertised and processed through elecwill be a realisation that trying to centronic tendering systems, which de-pertralise the process was a bad idea and sonalise the whole approach and allow that the best outcomes are achieved by a submissions from any company. more relaxed approach that supports Consultancies will have no idea how many small local suppliers in growing a local responses there have been and in a bid to economy. seek openness and transparency there are huge amounts of wasted effort in the What goes around comes around… Andrew Bateman FTS | Tourism Manager, Hampshire County Council Issue 153 Spring 2013

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Public Sector Procurement – 2

The nightmare for Consultants continues Over recent years, access to potential jobs in the public sector for tourism consultants, and many others, has changed radically.The traditional process involved getting known by the regional or national tourist boards as a competent practitioner and then being placed on a short list and recommended to the relevant agency that wanted a service. The system was simple but also unfair and/or difficult for those wanting to break into the sector and potentially open to abuse.The laudable desire for more transparency in public procurement generally has led to a major upheaval in the process that now relies in large part on new technology, a whole new profession of procurement officers and an approach that is now the bane of the small consultant’s life. The problems are to do with the general system and the specific procurement procedures being used by much of the public sector in the UK. At a general level, procurement now involves a labyrinth of individual procurement portals.The national ‘Contracts Finder’ portal which was meant to be the general access point has simply not taken off. Some public agencies have grouped together at a regional or sub-regional level but it is still incumbent on the consultant who needs to source work across the country to find and register with this myriad group of portals, all of whom want different levels of information in different formats at different stages of the process. (In Wales, most local authorities post their tenders on the relatively simple Sell2Wales.) Once the consultant has sourced appropriate portals, the real work begins.The over-riding impression is that procedures have been drafted to accommodate procurement of a new aircraft carrier with no allowance or understanding of the small business and no flexibility that relates requirements to the small scale of most consultancy services. Many tendering systems are complex, unreliable, slow and not user-friendly. Particular issues include: The time and cost involved in tendering is now excessive for both parties.The

Too much paperwork…? Information requested is often unwarranted given the scale of most tourism consultancy projects and risks associated with them. Is it really necessary for all tenderers to provide three years of accounts and bank details for an expression of interest? Is it important to get all consultants to provide health and safety, equal opportunity, environmental and other policies at PQQ stage? This represents an extensive burden for every tenderer and when factored by the number of tenderers, an incredible waste of resources.This time factor has a cost attached which will ultimately be reflected in increased fees. It is important that consultants are adequately insured but the procurement process is demanding ever-higher levels of

Issue 153 Spring 2013

professional indemnity cover that are totally disproportionate to the average fee level and the associated risk. Open tendering may be more transparent but it often puts off consultants who are busy and/or see the odds as too high. It means much wasted effort for the many rejected tenderers and the client who has to wade through many, often inappropriate, proposals. The emergence of the ‘procurement officer’ as a gatekeeper means that it is now very difficult for the tendering consultant to talk to the professional client before preparing their proposals. Most tourism consultancy jobs require a ‘feel’ for the job that can only be acquired through direct one-to-one discussion.

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Credit: www.digital-delight.ch

TJ18 and 19

This indiscriminate desire for transparency means that all questions regarding the brief now have to be put in writing and answers circulated to all potential tenderers.This may be reasonable to clarify any technicality but few consultants want to share perceptive or thought provoking questions with their competitors. Even when such questions are asked, the answers are invariably bland or dead-bat, giving nothing away.The result is that tenderers avoid exploring the brief in the constructive way that is possible through direct discussion and the quality of proposals diminishes accordingly. Tourism consultancy is not the purchase of a ready-made product that can be clearly specified by the buyer and priced by the supplier. Most projects are relatively complex as every destination, market, DMO is different and potential solutions can cover a myriad of options. The degree of complexity needs to be understood during the tendering process in order to prepare a realistic proposal and achieve the most effective outcome. Project briefs are often poorly prepared with lack of clarity on the scope and scale of the project and unrealistic timetables. Many tourism officers commission relatively little work and simply don’t have the experience. When it is not possible to discuss the brief with the officer concerned and there is no budget to indicate the scale envisaged, the problem is exacerbated. The reluctance to give guidance on budget is an unnecessary constraint. Tourism consultancy is a service that can be delivered at various levels, unlike delivering a box of rivets of specified size and quantity. Many proposals are wasted

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because the consultant has had to ‘guess’ the depth of investigation being sought by the client and/or the resources available.

ly and were aware of an increasing burden on applicants in the public sector tendering process over the last five years.

The evaluation of proposals has also become more bureaucratic to the detriment of the process.The use of procurement staff to filter proposals through a tick-box process can mean good proposals presented by well qualified consultants can be rejected for minor administrative errors. Of greater concern is the plethora of ill-conceived scoring matrices that fail to appreciate qualitative differences in approach, differences that could be identified through better dialogue in the procurement process.

To address these issues, it would appear logical and necessary for those responsible for public sector procurement industry to consider the following:

Interviews allow the client to meet the consultant and assess how the parties might work together but presentations can be misleading. If the client has met the consultant earlier in the tender preparation, selection purely on the written proposal can save a great deal of time and expense for both parties. Alternatively, if there is a clear favourite amongst the written proposals, an option is to invite this ‘preferred’ consultant for a discussion, prior to formal appointment, to confirm face-to-face that they are the right team for the job. Given the time and expense now involved in the public procurement process, there is a worrying lack of feedback. Some clients flatly refuse to discuss failed tenders.This is inconsiderate and unhelpful and does not allow consultants to improve their approach. These concerns were highlighted in a recent survey of Tourism Consultants Network members. Over three quarters of respondents said the time taken to complete a proposal had risen significant-

Issue 153 Spring 2013

Review ‘generic’ tender procedures; be more proportionate to the scale of project. If tenders are open, use PQQs to filter potential applicants and only request administrative information of the final short list, or just the preferred consultant. Relate PI requirements to the scale of the project and the associated risk. Consultants must be allowed to talk directly to the operational client while preparing their proposals, and be able to ask questions in confidence. Provide training in brief preparation to those being asked to draft them. Provide guidance on the budget available. Allow sufficient time for tender preparation. Do allow flexibility in the use of scoring matrices, giving more weight to experience and working relationships. If there has to an interview, ask only those with a realistic chance of success and don’t forget the consultants when choosing a date. Do provide honest feedback if requested. The Tourism Consultants Network has been looking at how best to communicate these concerns to those best placed to address them.

Chris Evans FTS | Director, The Tourism Company

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Opening Up New Markets Abroad Creating new partnerships for success

Partnership building to develop tourism along the Silk Road. At a time when the climate for consultancy in the UK and in many other parts of Europe is challenging, it is tempting to look abroad in the hope of finding new sources of business, perhaps in the Middle East or Far East. For large companies already operating internationally, moving into new markets is relatively straightforward.They have the resources, the systems and the methods to handle it. For small to medium size consultancies, particularly those used to working mainly in their domestic market, breaking into new markets is challenging. The further away from your home base you go, the more difficult it can be. You're up against a whole range of factors: Environments with which you are not familiar.

Different cultures and ways of working. Different languages â&#x20AC;&#x201C; English may be spoken (or not), but not always understood, in the business context. An understandable client preference to give work to consultants based within their own country or world region; and to consultants whom they know and trust. Reward systems that are not always totally transparent.

Well, that's the idea, but it assumes your partner is honest, reliable and knowledgeable. Alas, it is not always so. If you are new to the marketplace, finding a good local partner is quite a challenge. Those local companies that have experience and expertise in your field may well want to go for the contract themselves and will seek to cut you out of the loop if they can.

Difficulties in obtaining final payments â&#x20AC;&#x201C; sometimes any payment at all and more.

Those local companies that do not have relevant experience and expertise may add a lot of cost, but little value. Indeed, the value may be negative if they place a barrier between you and the client.

In the light of these factors, it may seem sensible to have a local partner; and the client may be reassured if you do.The local partner is there as a guide, a minder and an interpreter, to steer you through the hazards of operating in a foreign land.

When your local partner prepares and submits a proposal in the local language, it is possible that you will never see a fully translated version of the proposal and, if you do, the financial section may be missing or the cost structure may not be

Issue 153 Spring 2013

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quite as you remember it. And where your partner receives the money from the client, how quickly will it be passed on to those who do the work? So, for these reasons, if you can do so, it is better to work directly to the client, perhaps with the aid of a recommended interpreter/adviser, someone who is paid a fee and not directly part of the value chain. My own company's greatest successes have been where we have worked directly to the client and built up strong personal relationships of trust, respect and friendship; where the client has enjoyed and valued working with us and vice versa. Where it is difficult, perhaps for legal or cultural reasons, to work with the client directly, then there are potentially attractive alternatives – to work with a reputable local consultancy not in tourism, but in a related field, such as culture or economic development, where there is potentially fruitful complementarity, rather than competition. Or to sub-contract for one of the large consulting companies. Or to work under the auspices of one of the international agencies, such as the UNWTO, the World Bank, regional Development Banks and the UNDP, who may be funders of

the work and/or intermediaries trusted by the client. Whichever market you're considering, you need to practice what you preach and research the market well. It's worth taking the time to go and visit the market and talk to key players there to understand the state of the market and the size, nature and quality of the consultancy supply side. In some of the more mature markets, there may be substantial amounts of consultancy work, but also many excellent companies, each with a strong local track record and contacts, bidding for the work. China illustrates both the opportunities and the challenges well. It is perhaps the most obvious growth market in the world – growth of inbound and outbound tourism and of consultancy opportunities. However, there are several large, very well established tourism consultancies, mostly off-shoots from universities, established by well-respected Chinese professors. Also, there are distinct cultural factors at work in China, reflected in very different ways of working. The strength of personal relationships

(guanxi), the visual evidence of what you have achieved elsewhere and the quality of your ideas are all of considerable importance to clients. To make it even more difficult, certain concepts that are basic to our way of thinking in the West have limited resonance in China. Market research and marketing, heritage interpretation, and even the basic concept of strategy before action, are not priorities for most clients. Illustrations of what you will build on the ground carry much more weight. Perhaps the best recipe for success in opening up new markets is a very large slice of good luck – a chance encounter on an aircraft or at a conference that suddenly opens up opportunities; or an unexpected phone call from a potential new client far away, as a result of a recommendation. When the chances do come, whether by chance or otherwise, they can be richly rewarding, in terms of fulfilment, if not financially. It can be genuinely life affirming to work in a country where your advice is really valued and where you can genuinely make a difference to the quality of people’s lives.

Credit: gianliguori – Fotolia.com

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Look to the Far East for potential tourism projects

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Issue 153 Spring 2013

Roger Carter MBE FTS | Managing Director, TEAM Tourism Consulting

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Consultants and Academics

Credit: Kurhan – Fotolia.com

An underdeveloped relationship?

Universities can encourage student involvement in consultancy Consultants, however, may view Higher This article provides an insight into the complex world of Higher Education (HE), Education with some degree of sceptiand explores the ways in which HE and cism, with a stereotypical view that acaTourism Consultants can work more demics are somehow disconnected from closely together – a strategy which may the ‘real world’, and interested only in be of significant mutual benefit in these very niche areas of research. challenging economic times! Often, our academic research does have Higher Education institutions can provide real relevance to business, as it tests and many Consultants with access to worldevaluates models and frameworks to class research and expertise. enhance industry practice and to develop tourism policy. Our libraries contain extensive resources of academic publications, research dataIt is certainly the case that academic bases and subscriptions to expensive researchers and universities in general journals that publish the latest ‘state of need to retain the right to ‘critical disthe art’ studies, many focussed directly on tance’ from our industry, including the tourism topics. obligation on us to criticise industry practice and challenge what the industry We supervise PhD students producing thinks that it ‘needs’ from us. work at the cutting edge of the subject and many of us contribute to the acaThis is not a criticism, but it does highlight demic literature in tourism. the possibility of a healthy and construcImportantly, our work, and the students that we teach, are international.

tive tension between our respective ‘real worlds’.

Issue 153 Spring 2013

However, we should consider much more carefully how we all work together, how HE can engage Consultants, how Consultants can benefit from this relationship and the ways in which the world of academics in the broadest sense can also benefit from working with consultants. In fact, the world of HE today is very different, even from its appearance 10 years ago. In Peter Robinson’s department at University of Wolverhampton, all staff members have backgrounds working in industry, many in senior management positions all over the world. As well as suitable academic qualifications they bring teaching to life for students through the use of a wide range of industry examples. Furthermore, as a department all staff are engaged in both academic research and consultancy – recent projects include a feasibility study for a £1m visitor attrac-

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tion, a research project for The NEC Group and a business development plan for a community events centre.

include:

In addition, the University specialises in ‘knowledge exchange’ and Peter’s department is currently working with a large inbound tour operator developing their B2C business in the US, and with The Heritage Motor Centre to develop new education resources focussed on STEM (Science,Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects.

As Visiting Lecturers, in the UK and overseas.

Between the staff team eight leading textbooks have been written, together with numerous research publications. All undergraduate students are required to undertake work placements at each level of their course, part of a theme which runs through the courses, culminating in a consultancy project for a real client in their final year. Previous projects have included the development of a Business Tourism Strategy for Wolverhampton, a Church Tourism project and a business development proposal for new hospitality facilities at The Arena Theatre, a commercial venue which is part of the academic department, demonstrating the academic team’s continued involvement in industry. At Philip Long’s department, there is a comparable level of research expertise and professional engagement. We have five professors with international reputations for their research in aspects of tourism, including Economic and Econometric Impact Modelling; Sustainable Development and Tourism; Health, Well-being and Social Tourism; Tourism, Climate Change, Crises and Disaster Management. Former Tourism Society Board Member, Dimitrios Buhalis, is Chair in Tourism and Deputy Director of the International Centre for Tourism Research at Bournemouth, and is considered one of the most influential authors on the subject of tourism management.

Delivering courses, mentoring and business support projects.

Supervising and delivering Knowledge Transfer Projects. Working with us on consultancy projects, often bringing specialist expertise to the project. Delivering overseas projects where additional capacity is required. Whilst Visiting Lecturing may not be for everybody, Consultants are also able to work for Universities on a commission basis, where they are able to use our credentials, and access our research and other resources in order to work for businesses. They win work for the University, which subsequently employs the consultant to deliver the work, and the University adds value through a wide range of additional resources which few Consultants would otherwise be able to access. One European Regional Development Fund project at University of Wolverhampton provides fully funded 2day business assists, and the Visiting Lecturers providing this support to businesses often work as full-time consultants. Many Tourism Consultants at Wolverhampton have also been involved in book writing, providing case studies, delivering presentations at conferences, or being named authors on research projects, adding to their own CV. This should be a two-way relationship. Universities have access to a student workforce – not one to simply exploit,

but a relationship with mutual benefits, where students gain valuable work-experience whilst helping a Consultant reduce costs and undertake more extensive research. Many Higher Education Institutions require students to complete work-placements, usually with the option of a sandwich year, and in their final year students are often expected to carry out live consultancy projects. Increasingly, the ‘Dissertation’, that large final assessment, is now designed with flexibility so it can be a work-based project or other form of industry-relevant research. Up to a quarter of our students are mature students (over 21), and they may have ten or twenty years of industry experience, combined with their current industry knowledge gained through their current studies. Academic staff welcome opportunities to work with industry, and some funding streams exist to support academic staff who are keen to engage with industry, another excellent way for a consultant to add value and reduce costs for their clients.. There are also opportunities to work with Universities to develop funded projects which may be focussed on community tourism, rural tourism, local food and farm diversification as a few examples. In summary then, we believe that Consultants should be talking to their local Universities.Tourism Academics at Universities, should find and engage more with local Tourism Consultants. Some exciting and fruitful opportunities will arise as a result!

There are a further 20 full-time members of academic staff in the Tourism Academic Group, including colleagues from India, Mauritius, Israel and China. In addition to the publication of textbooks, we also host three of the leading academic journals in the subject. We engage closely with the industry, including our hosting of the National Coastal Tourism Academy, recently funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government to the tune of £2million.

Credit: Dmitry – Fotolia.com

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Research and Consultancy clients include international and national agencies and government bodies as well as leading companies in the private sector. At both of our universities, we enjoy close working relationships with Tourism Consultants and other industry practitioners. Examples of their involvement

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Academic performance is helped by ‘real world’ experience

Issue 153 Spring 2013

Dr Philip Long MTS | Associate Dean – Head of Tourism, Bournemouth University Peter Robinson MTS | Principal Lecturer and Head of Department, University of Wolverhampton

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Membership News Following on from last year’s excellent new member recruitment figures I am very happy to report that the momentum is being maintained. A new flexible approach to company membership has seen VisitBritain and London & Southeastern Railway join the Society and offer a large number of their staff the opportunity to benefit from closer involvement with us.

With other companies showing keen interest I hope to bring you more positive news in the Summer journal. In the meantime, keep spreading the word about the Society and direct any interested parties my way. Although 2012’s special events are longgone, there are no signs of any drop in activity throughout the industry.

well for our Annual Dinner on April 25th, with speakers Dierdre Wells OBE, Head of Tourism at DCMS, and Jonathan Neame, Chairman of the BBPA, and the Annual Conference in Cardiff on 2nd and 3rd July. As always, watch the website and our social media channels for the latest information.

Gregory Yeoman MTS | Executive Director gregory@tourismsociety.org

Here at the Society plans are progressing

From the Chairman’s Desk I have a confession to make. I hope that after knowing me for all this time you will forgive me but I have for some years now been actively involved in talking to bankers. Obviously not the ones who have been in trouble for fixing Libor rates or destroying their own High Street Banks or even for that matter their own High Street. No, these are quite normal people who just happen to have been working in the financial sector since the time when it was more popular than estate agents and you actually knew the name of your own branch manager.

“but” though. Here it comes.) But – they also tell me that a lot of people who ask them for money do not have a clue how to go about it.The concept of a “Business Plan” is alien.The idea of actually telling the bank how much money they have earned, paid out and subsequently made in profit is as if they were being asked to solve Fermat’s last theorem on a cigarette paper. Blindfolded. So my message to anyone wishing to follow my example and talk to a banker is, prepare. And if you don’t know how to, ask.There are plenty of tourism consultants available to help. David Curtis-Brignell FTS | Chairman, The Tourism Society

They all have one thing in common.They all assure me that they will lend money to tourism businesses. (There’s always a

Events Calendar March

21st

July

13th

Tourism Society Europa

2nd and 3rd

Tourism Question Time

Branding Europe

Tourism Society Annual Conference

Best of Britain & Ireland show

Brussels

Cardiff

NEC Birmingham

22nd

October

14th

Tourism Society Scotland

Media Masterclass

Business Focus

Qualifications… Do we need them?

London

Best of Britain & Ireland show

Edinburgh Napier University

16th

NEC Birmingham

April

TMI Annual Convention

20th

25th

Durham

London Networking Evening

Tourism Society AGM

November

The Ship Tavern, Holborn

Office of the Welsh Government, London

Tourism Society seminar

21st

25th

World Travel Market

Tourism Society Wales

Tourism Society Annual Dinner

Effective Collaborative Working: Brecon

House of Commons, London

Beacons Case Study Llanhamlach, Brecon

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

Issue 153 Spring 2013

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Membership News Welcome New Company Member VisitBritian I Palace Street London SW1E 5HX 0207 578 1000 www.visitbritain.org Lucy Jones MTS Rmishka Singh MTS Philip Taylor MTS Emma Fitzgerald MTS Alex Gladwell MTS Adriana Conte MTS David Meany MTS Sophie Harrison MTS Denitsa Mihova MTS Emma Wilkinson MTS Noreen McCain MTS Yeshi Abay MTS Chris Foy MTS Robin Johnson MTS Louise Bryce MTS Jaco Coetzee MTS Kevin Jones MTS Nathan Alemany MTS Rumina Hassam MTS Lucy Leith MTS Linda Rattray MTS David Bishop MTS Simone Duberry MTS Welcome new Group Member Rong Huang MTS Plymouth University 01752 232 800 r.huang@plymouth.ac.uk www.plymouth.ac.uk Welcome new members Mervyn Pilley MTS S W Bruce & Co Ltd 0208 807 1089 mervynpilley@swbruce.co.uk

Iain Cottam MTS Falconhurst Consulting 07798 638 533 iain.cottam@falconhurst-consulting.com

Martin Williams MTS Martin Williams Marketing Ltd. 07941 214 898 martin_williams@me.com www.martinwilliamsmarketing.com

Giulio Libutti MTS MSC Cruises 0207 092 2893 giuliol@msccruises.co.uk www.msccruises.co.uk

Susi Golding MTS Experience Oxfordshire 01865 252 793 susi.golding@experienceoxfordshire.org

Ross Mackenzie MTS Blue Org 0207 415 7115 ross@blueorg.com

Ville Valorinta MTS Ecompter +358 4 056 55412 ville@ecompter.com

Caroline Cooper MTS caroline@naturallyloyal.com www.zealcoaching.com

Manon Williams MTS Welsh Government 0300 060 3300 manon.williams22@wales.gsi.gov.uk www.wales.gov.uk

Mathieu Hoeberigs MTS European Commission mathieu.hoeberigs@ec.europa.eu Nerice Kihkwi MTS Nixxons Tours and Travels +237 22 075 055 nixxonstravels@yahoo.fr Sandeep Jain MTS Special Holidays Travel Pvt. Ltd +91 11 302 20000 sandeep@specialholidays.net Neil Fletcher MTS People 1st 07920 087 608 neil.fletcher@people1st.co.uk

Welcome new students Maria Dentaa Osei Bonsu University of Westminster 0203 328 3580 lilmary@rocketmail.com Clara Serva South Bank University 0800 923 8888 clamron@hotmail.co.uk www.lsbu.ac.uk Adesoji Adebambo University of Sunderland 0207 531 7333 ogunbowale2006@yahoo.co.uk www.sunderland.ac.uk

Sarah Cooke MTS City of Edinburgh Council 07793 747 300 sarah.cooke.edinburgh@gmail.com

Notice of Annual General Meeting 2013 Notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of The Tourism Society will be held at the offices of the Welsh Government, 25 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0EX on Thursday 25th April 2013 at 4.30pm for the following purposes: 1. The Executive Director to read the notice convening the meeting. 2. To receive apologies for absence. 3. To receive and, if agreed, to adopt the Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on Thursday 12th July 2012, previously circulated. 4. To receive and consider the reports of the Board and of the Sections Groups and Chapters for the year ending 31st December 2012. 5. To receive and consider the Accounts, Balance Sheet and report of the Auditors for the year ending 31st December 2012. 6. To appoint the auditors at a fee to be agreed by the Board. 7. To elect members of the Board. 8. Any Other Business.

By Order of the Board Gregory Yeoman Executive Director March 1st 2013

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