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Convention Special: VisitBritain upbeat in face of cuts
On the day when VisitBritain had to swallow a reduction in funding of over a third (when you build inflation into the equation), its chief executive was remarkably upbeat about how the tourism body would move forward.
Christopher Rodrigues told a marketing seminar at the ABTA conference in Malta that he felt the coalition’s tourism minister John Penrose, who he called a “sensible and thoughtful” chap, was likely to hang around longer than others (Labour had eight different tourism ministers in 13 years), that the prime minister’s speech on tourism in August was a great step forward, and that it was great not to have to run after Gordon Brown with briefing notes all the time.
However, the man who once oversaw Bradford and Bingley and Visa International, knows a challenge when he sees one.
He said his greatest hurdle for London 2012 was to change foreign visitors’ perceptions that Britain was an expensive destination. “The message we have to communicate is value,” he said. “We have an audience of 4.5 to 5 billion people watching the Games and it’s important we show people with proof points that this is not a country that is too expensive for them to visit.”
He also cautioned delegates about the inevitable drop in inbound visitors during 2012, as other countries to have hosted major sporting events have suffered a decline in inbound tourism.
"We have to explain to potential visitors in 2012 that there are lots of things and places to visit besides London,” he said.
Before leaving the stage at ABTA, he managed to put the boot in to the UK Border Agency, criticizing the fact that aircraft arrival times always seemed to clash with Border Agency staff shift patterns. But ever the optimist, he concluded: “I think Cameron could make a change to that.”
By Dinah Hatch
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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