Tourism Alliance Meeting

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TOURISM ALLIANCE MEETING

March 4 2002

Venue: CBI Centre Point London

1. Purpose of the meeting: The first meeting of the full Tourism Alliance took place on

March 4 at Centre Point. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss some of the challenges currently facing tourism, to outline the issues raised in the Alliance's proposed submission for the Spending Review 2002, and to take on board members’ comments on the submission.

2. Attendance: Digby Jones, Chairman of the Alliance; Moderator for the evening: Sandie Dawe, Director of Communications, BTA, and over 55 leading trade bodies representing nearly all the sectors within tourism and related industries. Digby Jones led with a presentation before throwing the floor open to a members' Question and Answer session.

3. Concerning general issues: The audience was updated on the events and circumstances leading to the creation of the Alliance. All trade sector membership bodies involved in tourism are eligible to join. It was evident however that there are still some residual concerns surrounding sector input to its work. These were noted and will be reported back to the Executive Group.

4. Summary of key points that came out of the discussion relating to the draft SR2002 submission.

-Members agreed that the Alliance should focus primarily on the current crisis facing domestic tourism and that it should campaign to strengthen the role of the English Tourism Council and national tourism structures to enable them to market Britain effectively to the domestic market.

-Members felt that the Alliance should not try to suggest to government that the gap between outbound and inbound tourism spend can be bridged but rather that the deficit should not be allowed to grow any deeper.

-Members raised concerns that while the government receives significant structural funds from the EU, in order to fund urban and economic regeneration and training, the benefits that these activities have for tourism are rarely highlighted. It is difficult to quantify exactly how much European funding benefits tourism. Members agreed that there needs to be more transparency in terms of the benefits these funds generate for tourism.

-Members highlighted the issue of the role local authorities in the delivery of tourism services. They agreed that local authorities were best placed to maintain England's tourism infrastructure. However they felt that at the moment local authorities were not utilising available resources effectively or efficiently and that many authorities that feel they have no real obligation to maintain public facilities, even when these are vital to delivering a quality tourism product.

4. Next Steps: The draft report will now be finalised. All members will receive a copy. There are plans to hold a further meeting of the Alliance before the summer -date to be confirmed.

Secretariat: March 02