DCMS July 2016 Tourism Update

DCMS News

Welcome to the July Tourism Update

The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, John Whittingdale gave the keynote speech to the British Hospitality Association’s Hospitality and Tourism Summit last week.

Mr Whittingdale said the Government regards tourism and hospitality as one of the country’s most important industries and will continue to support it and help it grow. The industry is going “from strength to strength” supplying almost one in ten jobs in the UK. He added that Britain attracted a record number of inbound visitors last year and there was record spend on domestic overnight trips too.

He said: “The reason why tourism is so successful in this country, is because our country has so much to offer.  People come to Britain because of our extraordinary heritage, our beautiful landscapes, our great sporting events, our art, some of the finest museums in the world, and our music.

“All of these are why people come to visit Britain.  It was the case last week, it is the case this week, and it will be the case next week.”

Mr Whittingdale said the referendum result offers opportunities as well as challenges and urged the sector to take advantage of them.  He also assured the tourism and hospitality industry that DCMS will engage closely with them as negotiations progress following the referendum.

“My message is that we will continue to welcome visitors from Europe into this country, just as we in Britain will continue to visit countries in Europe.”

“We will be working with you very closely to maintain tourism as one of our most important industries in this country, and to grow it further.”
 

A message from Tracey Crouch

I’m thrilled to be back at DCMS after my maternity leave and am looking forward to resuming my engagement with you all to continue promoting the tourism industry. David Evennett, who covered my period of leave, has done a brilliant job and I'd like to thank him for all of his hard work over the past few months.  

The recent weeks have seen significant changes, and I'd like to take this opportunity to ask each of you what you think the challenges and opportunities will be for the tourism industry. I'm keen to know what you think the impact will be on inbound, domestic and outbound tourism, what you feel should be protected and what could be reformed as we go through this period of change.    

We will be holding a round table with the tourism industry at the end of this month and I encourage you to feed views into the Tourism Alliance and Simon Vincent (co-chair of the Tourism Industry Council) beforehand. To facilitate this, the Tourism Alliance has launched a survey to find out industry views. We will also be bringing forward the next meeting of the Tourism Industry Council to September.

We are committed to ensuring that our vibrant industry which has seen remarkable growth continues to thrive despite our changing world and to do that we need to know your views, so I look forward to hearing from you.
 
The Events
Industry Board

Greater support to be provided

The Events Industry Board took place on 1st June and signed off the process for future support (financial and otherwise) which will be launched soon. The programme will help to win more events for the UK, and support the growth in scale and reach of existing British events. Stay tuned for more information in future newsletters. 
 
UK Visas 
 

New application centres to open in China

UK Visas and Immigration has announced that it is increasing the number of visa application centres in China from 12 to 15. The three new centres in Changsha, Kunming and Xian will start welcoming applicants shortly and will offer many of the premium services available elsewhere, including the popular 3 to 5 day priority visa service. 
 
New flight paths
 

Manchester to Beijing flights begin

In another boost to ties between China and the UK, there are new direct flights from Manchester to Beijing (#Manchester2Beijing), running four times per week and operated by Hainan Airlines. The route was unveiled by His Excellency Xi Jinping, and the Prime Minister in October 2015. 
 
Are you a tourism apprentice? Or a business that recruits tourism apprentices? We're working on an apprenticeships campaign and we'd like you to be involved. The campaign will promote tourism as a rewarding, long term career alongside our monthly #MyTourismJob profiles. Please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. your ideas with us. 
The Great British Food campaign is encouraging tourists to follow their tastebuds to exciting new British destinations.
Follow their Instagram account for some delicious inspiration.
 

Encouraging nominations from the tourism industry

Nominations for the 2017 Queen’s birthday honours open soon and close in mid-September. We would love to see an increase in the number of nominations and honours for individuals representing the tourism industry. Nominations can come from a member of the public or by an association or agency. Please consider if there is a candidate who should be acknowledged for their exceptional service to the tourism sector. 
 
 

Images with thanks to Visit England

DCMS March Tourism Update (2)

DCMS News


 

                                    Tourism

                                  Update
Hadrian's Wall at sunrise #LoveTheNorth

Welcome to the March Tourism Update

In this month’s newsletter, Bernard Donoghue looks back at a great couple of weeks for UK tourism, and we discuss the impact of the Budget and the #LoveTheNorth campaign.

This update also follows today's exciting launch of the DCMS Culture White Paper and the National Parks Plan. The Culture White Paper sets out a vision and agenda for the future of the arts, culture and heritage sector. Our heritage and culture are a key draw for domestic and international visitors - and there are positive links between new initiatives like the Great Place scheme, the Discover England fund, and the Great Exhibition of the North.  Our new Events Industry Board also gets a mention! 

We hope this monthly update, along with our blog and social media activity, helps keep you in the loop and we encourage feedback on how to improve communication between government and industry. Also, just a reminder to you all that there won’t be an April edition of this newsletter due to Purdah restrictions.

We hope everyone has a happy and relaxing Easter break! 
 
Tourism boosted by Budget
 

Budget offers financial support

The Budget on 16 March saw support offered to tourist attractions and small businesses. Hull, as the City of Culture, is set to receive £13 million, the Tour de Yorkshire will receive £500,000 for an international marketing campaign, whilst an extra £20 million for the Cathedral Repair Fund will ensure the upkeep of these important visitor attractions. 

It was also confirmed that the Great Exhibition of the North will take place in summer 2018. We will shortly be launching a competition to find a venue in the North of England to host the Exhibition.

Also, small businesses such as B&Bs, the lifeblood of the tourism industry, will benefit from either a reduction in or complete removal of business rates - saving them thousands of pounds. 
 
#LoveTheNorth
 

Campaign sees strong results

In February, VisitEngland launched a £1 million domestic marketing campaign to encourage people to spend their February half term and Easter holidays in the North of England and change perceptions that the North is #OpenForBusiness. The campaign aimed to help northern businesses recover from the recent floods and was supported by Virgin Trains which offered a discount of 30% off advance bookings for trips to the affected areas. 

The campaign has been successful in raising awareness of the flood affected areas, with comms activity reaching over 75 million people in the UK including through BBC, ITV and Sky coverage. There were almost 275k unique visitors to the destination campaign landing pages and 2,676 train tickets were booked with Virgin Trains.
 
Bernard Donoghue
blog

A busy fortnight for the tourism industry

Bernard Donoghue, Chairman of the Tourism Alliance and Director of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) takes a look back at what has been a very busy fortnight in the tourism industry. 

From English Tourism Week, to the publication of figures confirming another record year for tourism attractions, the industry has not strayed far from the public’s attention. Bernard also discusses the importance of close working between industry and Government.  

Read Bernard’s blog here. 
 

Rail news

The Department for Transport has launched a £1 million competition, offering grants to train operators who come up with innovative ways to increase the number of tourist train journeys. 

ALVA has sent a joint letter with ATOC encouraging its members to sign up to ATOC's new 2-4-1 train/attractions deal for international visitors. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. at ATOC can be contacted on this.
Are you a tourism apprentice? Or a business which recruits tourism apprentices? We're working on an apprenticeships campaign and we'd like you to be involved. The campaign will promote tourism as a rewarding, long term career alongside our monthly #MyTourismJob profiles. Click This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to provide your ideas.
 
 
 

National Apprenticeship Week

National Apprenticeship Week (NAW 2016) ran from the 14 - 18 March. This is part of the Government’s drive to increase the number of apprenticeships to 3 million by 2020. 

Our revamped Tourism Industry Council and Inter-Ministerial Group have met, and one of the first topics discussed was how to help young people forge exciting and long-lasting careers in the tourism industry. This is a key part of a strategy for the sector, and is delivering on the Government's Five Point Tourism Plan.

For example, the Cornwall Apprenticeship Agency (CAA) has been working with SMEs in the leisure, travel and tourism sector to help them grow their workforce with apprentices. 
 
The Great British Food campaign is encouraging tourists to follow their tastebuds to exciting new British destinations.
For some delicious inspiration,
follow their Instagram account here. 
 
You can expect your next DCMS: Tourism Newsletter in May. In the meantime, you can keep up with us on the DCMS blog or through our social media accounts:
 
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Images with thanks to Visit England

DCMS Announce Tourism Industry Council

DCMS News

The Tourism Alliance has reported that at the BHA Hospitality and Tourism Summit today, Tourism Minister Helen Grant announced the establishment of a new Tourism Industry Council. The Council will be jointly chaired by Helen Grant, Matthew Hancock (Minister for Skills and Enterprise at BIS) and Simon Vincent from Hilton Worldwide.

The Council will comprise 22 members from across the Tourism industry and has a remit to improving skills, increasing the quality and quantity of jobs available and boosting enterprise in the tourism industry. One of the key themes will be for the Council to build on the work already announced by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills who earlier this year announced tourism and hospitality would be part of the trailblazers programme – an initiative designed to develop a clear and concise apprenticeship standards throughout many industries in the UK.

The Council will meet every 3-4 months with the first meeting on 10th July.

Note to Editor:

For more information, contact Kurt Janson, Policy Director, Tourism Alliance

3 Gainsford St London SE1 2NE

t. 020 3117 0664

m. 07946428123

e. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

w. www.tourismalliance.com

 

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