Guest comment: What is happening with domestic tourism?
Comment from The Tourism Society
In a debate organised by The Tourism Society, held last week at the Bonnington in Bloomsbury Hotel, it was noted that only four of the original 12 English Regional Tourist Boards remain, with the nine Regional Development Agencies taking portfolio responsibility for tourism in their region.
It was also announced that the Government’s long awaited Tourism Prospectus has been slipped out very quietly, and was still not available publicly available. Apparently the document only appears to cover marketing, etourism, data, quality and skills and doesn’t explain why the current structure of the tourism industry is such a shambles nor what the government plans to do about it.
Throughout the evening’s debate many issues were raised including tourism funding, government involvement, transport, the Olympic bid, sustainable tourism, grassroots enterprise, SMEs, town planning and industry engagement.
The main outcome was that the domestic tourism industry needs to find a champion who will persuade the Government that tourism is an important activity, requiring more funding, more permanent government responsibility and a structure that can facilitate industry engagement from a grassroots level.
Ginny McGrath
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