Tourism Alliance
Minutes of Board Meeting
12 January 2006
Minutes of the Tourism Alliance Board Meeting held on 2 November 2005 at the BHA Offices in Lincolns Inn Fields, London.
Chair
Brigid Simmonds Business In Sport and Leisure
Members
Robin Broke ALVA
Mark Tanzer Association of British Travel Agents
Colin Dawson BALPPA
Rob Hayward British Beer & Pub Association
Ros Pritchard British Holiday & Home Parks Association
Bob Cotton British Hospitality Association
Peter Hampson British Resorts Association
Michael Hirst Business Tourism Partnership
Tony Millns English UK
Bob Collier Tourism South East
Stephen Dowd UKinbound
Ken Robinson Visitor Attractions Forum
Observers
Dr June-Alison Sealy CBI
Sandie Dawe VisitBritain
Secretariat
Kurt Janson Tourism Alliance
Apologies
Alan Edmondson Confederation for Passenger Transport
Huw Jarvis RDA Representative
Stella Akintan LGA
Item 1: Introduction and Matters Arising
Brigid Simmonds welcomed Board Members and Observers to the meeting. The minutes for the last meeting were agreed as a true and accurate account the meeting.
Matters Arising
Tourism Alliance Presidency
Brigid Simmonds confirmed that she had been in contact with Sir Digby and informed him of the Boards decision to postpone the appointment of a new president until his successor was in position and the matter could be discussed with whoever that was. Although Sir Digby contract was until the end of 2006, it was felt that he may retire by September
Item 2: Membership and Finance
Financial Position
Stephen Dowd informed members that the Tourism Alliance had a positive bank Balance at the end of the 2005 year and, as such, the Tourism Alliance had established it’s own banking facilities separate from BHA. UKinbound had taken over the responsibility for the issuing of invoices and the annual accounts. As part of this process the Tourism Alliance was seeking VAT registration. To do this, Board members had to provide Stephen Down with a list of organisations for which they were a director which were registered for VAT.
The Board thanked BHA and Bob Cotton for the work that they had undertaken over the year in handling the Tourism Alliance’s finances and doing the organisation’s accounts.
Stephen tabled the old fees schedule for the Tourism Alliance and explained the need to move to a more equitable basis. The history of the Tourism Alliance led its founder members, who are mostly large organisations, to paying £5,000 each a year. While it was acknowledged that the Tourism Alliance had to be inclusive and provide a low entry level for small organisations, it was felt that at the lowest level the fees were too low and that an increase from £350 to £400 per annum was justified. It was pointed out that many smaller organisations gain perhaps more benefit than larger members as the information we provide is not necessarily available to them from other sources. Other membership fees would also be increased with the aim to moving most members into the correct band over the coming year.
There followed a discussion of the problem of the Tourism Alliance having umbrella organisations as members which might be an obstacle to increasing membership as trade associations that were members of the umbrella organisations would be unwilling to pay twice for membership. The board felt that such trade associations should not be able to use this position as an excuse not to join and that the Tourism Alliance should be free to approach sub-members regarding membership.
It was agreed that, in future, the fees for the forthcoming year should be set at the Annual General Meeting where all members of the Tourism Alliance could join the debate.
It was also agreed that the review of the fees at the AGM should include a review of the turnover bands, which were considered to be too small and to not accurately reflect the size of organisations at the top end.
Stephen also presented the Board with a copy of the Tourism Alliance budget for 2006 which the Board approved.
Membership
Brigid Simmonds reported that both she and Kurt Janson had had discussions with the Regional Delivery Partners and been unable to resolve the problem of two RDPs withdrawing from the collective membership that the organisations enjoyed.
The Board then discussed how RDP membership of the organisation should be organised in future. Because of the differing relationship between RDAs and RDPs in the different regions it was finally decided that RDPs should be invited to join on an individual basis. It was considered that the RDPs should be asked to pay a subscription rate of £1k each, although this could be negotiated.
Actions
1. Kurt Janson and Stephen Dowd to ensure that Tourism Alliance fees were included in the agenda for the AGM
2. Board members to provide Stephen Dowd with a list of organisations for which they are a director which are VAT registered
3. Bob Collier to convey to the RDPs that, in future, membership of the Tourism Alliance would have to be on an individual basis and, between he and Kurt Janson, to negotiate an appropriate subscription rate.
Item 3: Activities List
Kurt Janson presented the activities list for the period November 2005 to January 2006 for the Board’s information. The Board accepted the paper and there were no comments or questions.
Item 4: Policy Issues
Smoking
Brigid Simmonds informed the members that the Government had announced that there would be a free vote on the smoking aspects of the Health Bill. The vote would be on the two proposed exemptions – to premises that did not serve alcohol and to private members clubs.
There was a real concern that although the exemption for premises that did not sell food would be removed, there was a strong possibility that the exemption for private clubs would remain. This would result in an uneven playing field for the industry and result in migration from public to private premises. This would be particularly problematic in places with large British Legion or Workingman’s Clubs.
She reported that BISL, BHA, and BBPA were combining their efforts and were seeking to join forces with ASH and the British Medical Council to oppose the exemptions.
There was a discussion as to whether smoking in public places was a tourism issue or not. The Board concluded that the tourism interest was related to providing clarity and avoiding confusion for tourists. It was therefore decided that the Tourism Alliance’s involvement in the issue should be limited to this aspect.
Lyon’s Inquiry
Kurt Janson reported that the interim report of the Lyon’s inquiry had stated that the inquiry team were still interested in considering a tourism-related tax as part of the options for funding local authorities.
The Board considered that this issue needed to be watched with care as it was possible that a recommendation on tourism taxation could be part of the final report. It was felt that not only would this be unwarranted as tourists pay very high rates of tax at the moment but the discretionary aspect of the tax would provide difficulties in maintaining a level playing field between different authorities. It was agreed that the Tourism Alliance should meet with the Lyon’s Inquiry team to discuss the issue and find out now best to present the industry’s view that such a tax was unwarranted.
Responses to the Interim Report are due by 13 March 2006 with the final report due before the end of the year.
Actions
1. Kurt Janson to organise a meeting with the Lyons Inquiry Team to discuss tourism taxation and to report back to the Board.
Good Practice Guidance for Tourism Planning
Brigid Simmonds reminded the Board that submissions on the Good Practise Guidance for Tourism were due on 10 February 2006 and that Tourism Alliance members should write in and support the Guidance to help ensure that it was adopted.
Actions
1. Board members to write to the ODPM supporting the guidance in its current form.
Visas to Enter the UK
Kurt Janson reported that after correspondence with UK visas and a meeting between James Purnell and Tony McNulty, the Home Office Minister had agreed to meet with the Tourism Alliance in May to discuss the issue of visa increases and their impact on visitor numbers to the UK. Prior to this meeting, a pre-meeting would be held with DCMS to discuss how best to prepare for the meeting with the Minister.
Tourism Taxation
Stephen Dowd informed the Board that he had had discussions with KPMG about undertaking a thorough review of the amount of taxation that tourists pay. KPMG had undertaken similar work for ICC and this had provided them with powerful =information with which they could lobby Government. The work would cost in the ballpark of £50k and would require individual associations or businesses to pay for it rather than the Tourism Alliance. He undertook to provide further details for Board member’s consideration once he had met with KPMG and discussed it further.
Actions
1. Stephen Dowd to circulate details of the proposal for KPMG to undertake an analysis of tourism taxation once he had met with the organisation.
Licensing
Rob Hayward reported to the Board that although there had been considerable concern expressed regarding the consequences on the changes in the licensing law that came into effect in November, the Xmas period had proved to be relatively quiet and initial indications were that crime may have even been lower than last year. However, there were still a number of ongoing issues relating to licensing that were still taking time to resolve. The main issue now was the interpretation and application of the new laws by different local authorities. The main cause of this was the lack of strong guidance being issued by DCMS.
Members who were experiencing problems with the new licensing laws were invited to contact BBPA for advice.
Sunday Shopping
Kurt Janson reported to the Board on his meeting with the Sunday Shopping lobby. This group is looking to have the hours for Sunday Shopping extended and was seeking Tourism Alliance support in the grounds that shopping and tourism are closely related activities.
The Board discussed whether the extension of Sunday shopping hours would have a beneficial or a detrimental impact on the tourism industry. The majority view was that an extension to Sunday shopping hours would act as a further disincentive for leisure and tourist trips on Sundays and therefore the Tourism Alliance did not wish to support further deregulation.
Compensation Bill
Colin Dawson reported that the Compensation Bill was now in Grand Committee in the Lords. Major progress had been made on regulating the activities of claim farmers but that there was still work to be done to make changes to the personal responsibility sections of the Bill. It was envisaged that the Bill would pass through the House of Lords by late February so he had until then to try and make further changes. He asked for Members who had contacts in the House of Lords to call him so he could gain further support.
Ken Robinson alerted members to a scheme that he had come across that would have required schools to only undertake trips to places that had been inspected and certified as “safe” for taking pupils. Through his enquiries he had found that the scheme was ill-considered and would have been impossible to implement. He advised the Board that he was to meet with the School Visits Advisory Council to get the proposal retracted.
Actions
1. Colin Dawson to circulate a list of Grand Committee members to Tourism Alliance members so that a contacts list could be developed.
VisitBritain Funding
Robin Broke informed the Board that, although the Tourism Alliance had done some good work over the last year it needed to undertake a campaign to show both the Government and the members that it was a valuable and forceful organisation. He considered that a campaign based on providing VisitBritain with an increase in funding was something that all Tourism Alliance members could support and provide the most value. He proposed that the Tourism Alliance co-ordinate a letter writing campaign to Gordon Brown and Tessa Jowell demanding additional funding be provided to VisitBritain as part of this year’s Comprehensive Spending Review.
The Board undertook a lively debate on the best way to undertake a campaign and the best issue to base this campaign on. Views were expressed that the campaign should deal with issues such as funding for promoting the Olympics or resolving the policy co-ordination problems that has arisen from the devolution of tourism policy to the RDAs.
It was further considered that any campaign should fit with the Tourism Alliance’s manifesto which was produced just before the election. However, as the current Minister for Tourism had expressed the view that he was not interested in reviewing the Development of Tourism Act, it was considered pointless to pursue this option.
The discussion concluded that further thought had to be given to this issue. Although the Board agreed that the Tourism Alliance should undertake a campaign, it was considered that an external communications group be established to take the matter further and report back to the next meeting. It was also agreed that any lobbying related to the Comprehensive Spending Review would need to tie-in with VisitBritain’s bid. Therefore the External Communications Group would have to liaise with VisitBritain.
It was agreed that the Communication Group would consist of Ken Robinson, Michael Hirst, Brigid Simmonds and Kurt Janson. To encourage membership participation, it was agreed that an invitation to join the group be extended to all members.
Actions
1. Kurt Janson to organise a meeting of the Communications Group
Next Meeting
6 March 2006
Venue to be confirmed