A self-catering holiday letting company, Helpful Holidays, has filed a State Aid Complaint with the European Commission in relation to VisitBritain’s EnglandNet project.
The complaint centres on VisitBritain’s plans to offer holidaymakers the opportunity to book holiday cottages through its websites, visitbritain.com and visitengland.com. The systems are part of the state-funded EnglandNet project.
But Helpful Holidays, and a whole host of other companies involved in holiday home bookings that are supporting the complaint, believe that the publicly-funded project will compete with them for the custom of holidaymakers and property owners, and will offer a poor-quality service to customers.
The complaint comes after many months of representations to Visit Britain by Moray Bowater, general manager of Helpful Holidays, Richard Carrick, head of Hoseasons, and other representatives of self-catering agencies.
Mr Bowater said: “We have tried to avoid this situation. The marketing and taking of bookings for the owners of self-catering cottages is a commercial service offered by agencies.
The creation of a new distribution channel for accommodation owners, which will be enabled ny EnglandNet, is unnecessary and threatens the business of agencies already serving this market.”
A spokesman for VisitBritain said: “We are aware of a recent press release confirming that a state aid complaint has been submitted to the European Commission in relation to the EnglandNet project.
“Should the Commission pursue the matter, it will be for the UK Government to respond. As such, it would not be appropriate for VisitBritain to comment on the substance of the complaint at this stage.
“EnglandNet is a marketing medium for English tourism as a whole, providing information to end-users on England and parts of England as a destination. It will carry information on attractions, events and accommodation. The VisitBritain websites will give national and international distribution with access to a potential 11 million website visits in the UK and worldwide, set to rise to 20 million within the next three years. EnglandNet will not replace the role performed by self-catering and other booking agencies.
“The opportunities provided by EnglandNet will be of tremendous importance to this country’s tourism industry and VisitBritain wants EnglandNet to be supported by all sectors. To that end VisitBritain will maintain a continuing dialogue with all interested parties.”
