A Commons Select Committee has warned that the proposed merger of the English Tourism Council (ETC) and the British Tourist Authority (BTA) may not work and has criticised the Government for not providing adequate support for tourism in the UK - an industry that contributes £74b to the economy.
In a report on tourism published last week, the all-party committee also concluded that Government support for tourism lacked "emphatic, authoritative and clearly recognisable ministerial leadership", and that there was a need for more funding, especially when the ETC and BTA are merged later this year.
Reflecting the views of many in the hospitality industry, the report also slammed the proposed restructure, accusing the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) of having "ducked the opportunity to design an appropriate new structure". It suggested that England needed its own national tourist board to "adequately promote and support tourism".
Senior figures in the industry have welcomed the Select Committee's views. Bob Cotton, chief executive of the British Hospitality Association, said it "should be required reading for every MP and MEP" (see below).
John Thurso, Liberal Democrat shadow secretary of state for Scotland and committee member, told Caterer: "The proposed new structure is completely out of kilter with devolution policy and won't work until England is treated as equal to Scotland and Wales. It is fatally flawed."
The ETC said it was adamant the structure "was workable", although it conceded it was not the council's preferred option and that it was concerned about underfunding.
* Copies of The Structure and Strategy For Supporting Tourism are available from the House of Commons Committee Office, 7 Millbank, London SW1P 3JA, tel: 020 7219 6188; e-mail: cmscom@parliament.uk
What the Select Committee said
* Government is not providing adequate support for the tourist industry, and needs to increase funding.
* Proposed reorganisation of ETC and BTA is not the best solution.
* England needs its own national tourist board.
* Minister with single responsibility for tourism needed.
* Statutory registration of accommodation providers needed.
* Review of VAT levels on accommodation recommended.
Committee members
Gerald Kaufman (chairman, Lab)
Chris Bryant (Lab)
Rosemary McKenna (Lab)
Michael Fabricant (Con)
Debra Shipley (Lab)
Adrian Flook (Con)
John Thurso (Lib Dem)
Alan Keen (Lab)
Derek Wyatt (Lab)
Latest figures show increases in visitors
Government figures just released show that the number of tourists coming to the UK rose by more than a third during December, compared with December 2001, while their spending rose by 30%.
Annual figures also showed strong growth, with visits up 6% on 2001 to more than 24 million and spending up 4% to nearly £12b.
"There is still some way to go and the current climate is causing uncertainty in some markets," said British Tourist Authority (BTA) chief executive Tom Wright. "BTA's evolution of its overseas structure and the imminent launch of a new lead body for tourism all offer great potential for the industry."
The BTA puts the strong growth in tourist figures for December down to the "Only in Britain. Only in 2002" campaign, designed to boost Britain as a short breaks destination in Europe. A similar campaign is planned for later this year.
The BTA forecasts that inbound visits and spending will increase by 3-4% this year, but fears that war in the Gulf would affect travel in some markets.
New name looks likely
A new name for the combined British Tourist Authority and English Tourism Council is likely to be announced at next month's British Travel Trade Fair.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has said that although the new body would be legally constituted as BTA, it "may well be assigned a new name to reflect its new remit".
The organisation, which has been criticised as being seriously underfunded, has been given a budget of £35.5m to promote Britain overseas during 2003-04, and £10.5m for promoting the country to the domestic market. It will receive a further £35.5m for 2004-05, with the figure for domestic tourism rising to £12m.
Its remit is to boost tourism revenue to Britain as well as domestic marketing for England, create broader partnerships across industries, and ensure there is a clear recognition of national and regional agendas.
* Richard Tobias has been appointed the first deputy chairman of the Tourism Alliance, an industry body set up to aid communication between tourism-related businesses and the Government. He was previously chief executive of the British Incoming Tour Operators Association (BITOA). Tobias takes up his new role on 1 March.
Over to you...
Bob Cotton, chief executive of the British Hospitality Association, welcomes the support of the Select Committee.
This report should be required reading for every MP and MEP, every member of the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly as well as every civil servant and official connected with the tourism industry - which it describes as one of the UK's largest (England's fifth largest), with a turnover of £74bn and employing more than two million people.
It lucidly argues the case for tourism to remain high on the Government's agenda, pleads for clearer lines of responsibility for the industry in Whitehall and for more intelligent public funding of the industry's overseas and domestic marketing programmes.
We welcome this support on these key issues. Clearly, the committee has concerns about the merger between the BTA and the ETC but this - despite the almost too vocal reservations of the Scots and the Welsh (whose own tourist boards are funded, pro rata at a far higher level) - is a better solution to the challenge of marketing England than England having no marketing function at all. The key question is the funding of this new body, which is generally accepted (by the committee and the industry) to be inadequate.
But the committee's emphasis on the marketing challenge has tended to deflect attention from the critical importance of people and skills. A reference to the Sector Skills Council is really not sufficient. Our skills shortage is the industry's most pressing problem, and has a major impact on the quality of its product, something that the committee emphasises it wants to see improved.
In the final analysis, increased training is as vital as well-funded marketing.