Visit Britain responds

Elliott Frisby, Corporate PR Manager, VisitBritain in London has at last responded to the questions The Mole sent to him over a week ago.

Elliott’s very interesting reply, which is reproduced verbatim below: –

Hi John,

Looks like I have to apologise again that my colleague in London didn’t get this to you as I was unavoidably out of the office for the start of this week.

Here are our responses to your questions following the announcement of our partnership with CarTrawler.

All the best,

Elliott

Response for Travelmole Australia – 11 October 2007

Q: How can different travel partners work with VisitBritain when it has a sole relationship with CarTrawler and when that relationship shows a sole preference over others.

A: VisitBritain’s partnership with CarTrawler is simply the first of its kind at present. It is not exclusive and certainly not a barrier to other organisations working with VisitBritain at a global or local level.

Q: Would you accept another or several other car rental brokers, online car rental sellers or a car rental company to be a partner on line with you on your web sites?

A: Yes. Such organisations would be welcome to participate in any of our promotional activities. We welcome applications from other companies which offer meta search facilities for car hire, provided they can meet our technical and presentation requirements with the ability to return unbiased results.

Q: Can organisations similar to CarTrawler work with VisitBritain on its websites

A: Yes. We are happy to explore partnerships with individual suppliers as well as providers of meta-search engines, providing they can meet our technical and presentation requirements. VisitBritain offers a wide range of marketing opportunities, both on and off line. In fact, today more and more of our opportunities are online and the CarTrawler partnership is no barrier to any organisation participating.

Q: Is VB allowed to enter into key sole global relationships in this manner?

A: As a national tourist board tasked with increasing tourism to and within Britain, VisitBritain needs to explore partnerships with the public and private sector to compete effectively with rival destinations.

However, there seems to be some confusion about our use of the word ‘sole’, which is not intended to imply exclusivity. It simply means that at the present time, this is the only partner with which VisitBritain is offering this particular service.

Our partnership with CarTrawler is not exclusive. If other providers of meta-search engines are able to meet our technical requirements, VisitBritain would certainly consider working with them at a global or local level.

Q: Isn’t VB supposed to be impartial, offering travellers advice and choices of options, whereas now your offering is the sole car rental offering through VB web sites?

A: Absolutely. Our aim is to offer travellers the widest range of inspiration, practical information and choice of travel options so they can make an informed choice that best suits their needs.

Again, by ‘sole’ we mean this is the first time we have offered this type of search functionality on the website to enable consumers to obtain unbiased information from 450 different suppliers through CarTrawler PLUS through any future partnerships we might develop PLUS any relationships with individual suppliers arranged in a single or many countries where we operate.

Q: Should or shouldn’t VisitBritain be impartial?

A: VisitBritain aims to work with all suppliers who can help us raise the value of Britain’s visitor economy and increase routes to market for the industry and tourism businesses within it. We remain impartial and willing to explore partnerships with all organisations that can help us achieve these goals.

Q: Does VB make money out of this relationship and on client transactions

A: VisitBritain receives funding from the UK Government, but is also required to generate revenue from relationships with partners in the public and commercial sectors.

We are able to offer the industry access to millions of potential customers around the world to help build the success of Britain’s visitor economy.

We are a not-for-profit agency.

Any money generated from partnerships is used for further marketing activities to raise awareness and promote travel to British destinations.

Q: Should VB be offering any trade operator of any description or form any sector a sole deal?

A: Again, it is not a question of exclusivity, there has simply been a misunderstanding of terminology.

This is the first partnership of its kind we have undertaken and it is not a barrier to future partnerships with tourism and non-tourism partners.

We welcome the opportunity to widen the audience for British tourism products by building symbiotic relationships with many different organisations.

Q: Isn’t this a very strange move indeed for Visit Britain to enter the commercial arena in this manner?

A: Not at all. VisitBritain’s public funding has not increased in 12 years, meaning an real term decline of 22%, and to remain competitive we must look to new and innovative ways of marketing Britain in 36 markets around the world.

The partnerships we develop aim to increase profitability for the industry, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises and not ourselves.

Q: Where does this leave the trade and all the car rental companies and car rental brokers, in relation to VisitBritain and can they promote themselves on your web sites?

A: It leaves them in the same position they have always been in – very welcome to work with us – and promote businesses that support the growth of Britain’s visitor economy through our websites and many other marketing opportunities.

Q: Doesn’t this move cast some doubt on VisitBritain’s status in some countries globally as a government organisation as you are now clearly commercial, having remained impartial with commercial activity limited to promotional activity.

A: While we have undertaken some commercial activity to create a range of low cost routes to market for suppliers, it is not a barrier to our remaining impartial and we continue to offer a range of marketing opportunities – both on and off line for a range of budgets.

VisitBritain is a government agency but must continue to represent Britain’s visitor economy in an increasingly competitive environment.

We are not the first government tourism to explore commercial partnerships of this nature.

Q: Mr Turley says that CarTrawler any approved car rental company to sign up and be a provider with-in the CarTrawler distribution system at http://www.cartrawler.com/supplier_signup.asp. Does this means that this is a controlling factor to any participation with VB?

A: Not at all. Our partnership with CarTrawler is not a barrier for other organisations wishing to work with VisitBritain.

Any criteria set by CarTrawler for inclusion in its meta-search engine, are not necessarily required to develop a partnership with VisitBritain.

Q: What is an approved car rental company as above?

A: Suppliers minimum requirement for the UK would be membership of the BVRLA (British Vehicle Rental & Leasing Association)

Q: Do you have other sole relationships?

A: Yes. We have developed partnerships with a number of different organisations to build the value of Britain’s visitor economy and improve our customers’ experience.

Again, none of these precludes the possibility of other organisations continuing existing or developing new relationships with us.

Q: Is the next step exclusive or sole relationships with a hotel group or a global GDS or on line travel company to the exclusion of all others.

A: We are not in the business of excluding organisations that want to work with us to promote British tourism.

We want to do all we can to make sure many more consumers want to come to Britain and have the best experience possible when they make their travel plans.

To ensure this it is important that they be able to make an informed choice and access the most suitable products and suppliers that meet their needs.

We cannot do this by restricting our relationships with the suppliers of British tourism products.

A report by The Mole