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Guest comment: Why is tourism so unimportant?
Guest comment by destination management consultant, Ken Male
No one could pretend that domestic tourism has had a successful summer.
Scenes of white water rafting in transit vans in Boscastle still make you shudder and wonder how nobody got killed. The rain kept coming but what made the news? “Farmers are seeking Government financial aid for damaged and lost crops”.
We just do not seem to make the media or the Government, aware of the importance of tourism to the UK economy. Unless, of course, it is attached to a farming story as was the case with foot and mouth.
Where are the stories of loss of earnings by tourism businesses or indeed the loss of income by the local authorities? Local Government has to make the books balance like any business and this year they have struggled as car park income and revenues from deck chairs, ice creams, seafront rentals and so forth faded to appalling levels. The problem is that they now have to find cuts to make this year’s books balance, for many this will mean the advertising budgets will be trimmed, affecting the activity between now and next March.
The monies available for independent promotion of destinations and for collaborative work in marketing England through Visit Britain will be reduced. After a tough year we need to be spending on advertising not cutting.
So folks, it is time to get on your bikes, your riverboats or your donkeys and parade in Whitehall pointing out that tourism is important. There are times when the Government should be looking to pump extra in to support the industry through a rough patch to support them ready for the good times; the industry is providing the Government with billions of pounds in taxes and millions of jobs.
We have an industry which spends is good at marketing to the consumer but still seems unable to communicate to Government. We are scared that we will frighten our visitors with bad news; but it is about targeting the message to the right audience in order to apply pressure through greater understanding.
We need to learn a few lessons from the farmers!
By Ken Male
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