VisitBritain funding slashed

UK tourism officials have hit out at the British Government after it announced 18% cuts to VisitBritain funding, with the cuts over three years from the current £49.6 million to £47.6 million in 2008/09, £45.1 million in 2009/10 and £40.6 million in 2010/11.

The UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport announced the reduced three-year funding settlement for VisitBritain, the national tourism agency, with Christopher Rodrigues, chairman of VisitBritain, expressing real disappointment at the overall settlement level, particularly following ten years of static funding and the most challenging summer for tourism since 2001, adding  “Global tourism is increasingly competitive and the tourism industry will have to fight hard if Britain is to retain its place in the global tourism league.”

“The Government has chosen to increase funding for our cultural institutions which form a large part of this country’s draw for visitors.”  “Whilst this is laudable, the offer of free entry to museums and galleries will not in itself persuade most international tourists to come to London instead of Paris, New York or Hong Kong.”

“This settlement also reduces the funding available to promote England at home and overseas.”  “We will need to become even more efficient in the marketing partnerships we have with the travel industry and the regions and nations to plug the gap this settlement has created.”

Rodrigues though welcomed and accepted the request by Secretary of State James Purnell to lead a review of how to improve the coordination for promoting the industry within the devolved framework for tourism and in the context of the new funding settlement, adding, “We welcome the commitment from the Minister to this review, which should lead to the more efficient and effective deployment of resources across the multiple public and private stakeholders involved in the tourism industry.”

Commenting on the current lack of additional funding to support the national strategy to maximise the tourism benefits of the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, he said: “I am pleased that the Secretary of State has recognised VisitBritain’s key role in delivering the 2012 tourism legacy and is committed to reviewing the resources available for VisitBritain to work with the private sector as we get closer to the 2012 Games.”

He stressed that the agency remained committed to developing public and private funding sources to take advantage of this “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to use the Games to showcase Britain.”

Tom Wright, Chief Executive said that VisitBritain would continue to adapt to the changing and increasingly digital environment and would aim to complete the review by spring 2008, saying, “VisitBritain is a high-performing, award winning agency.”  “Our recent modernisation programme has enabled us to reduce infrastructure costs significantly and to free up additional funds for front line marketing.”  “This reduced settlement means we will need to work ever more closely with our marketing partners to deliver the growth potential of this £85 billion industry.”

“We already generate £1.4 billion of positive media coverage for Britain globally and some 20 million potential visitors visit our websites annually. We will exploit the continuing changes in travel buying habits; the insights and contacts of our overseas offices; our innovative commercial partnerships and the Partners for England initiative to promote Britain to the world.”

The UK trade said that the cuts passes the marketing expenditure buck onto the trade, with Tourism Alliance chairman Ros Prichard OBE saying the cuts “highlight the Government’s lamentable understanding of tourism and a lack of joined-up thinking”, adding, “This cut in funding means that, in real terms, the Government will have reduced VisitBritain’s funding by around 50% between 1997 and 2011,” said Prichard.

“To do this to a successful organisation that has generated around £10bn for the UK economy and £2bn for the Exchequer over the past 10 years and supports over 23,000 jobs across the country makes no sense whatsoever.”

“To also do it in the lead-up to the Olympics when the Government’s own research shows that there is the potential to generate an additional £2.1bn in tourism expenditure for the UK economy borders on sheer madness.”

“The cuts will compounded because tourism spending at the local and regional levels also stand to be reduced over the next three years”, she added.

“This lack of understanding and joined-up thinking makes a mockery of the Government’s new Olympic Tourism Strategy that was launched just last month.”

UKinbound said it was “shocked and horrified” by the cuts, with Chief Executive Stephen Dowd saying, “This announcement confirms that DCMS has completely lost the plot:, adding, “The London 2012 Olympics could provide a once in a generation opportunity to promote the UK as a tourism destination to a global audience and for the Secretary of State responsible for the UK tourism industry to forego this opportunity is utter madness.”

“James Purnell has emasculated VisitBritain and our competitors will be rubbing their hands with glee.”

Visit Britain Australia New Zealand Manager Judy Watkins told The Mole this morning that the Australian office had already submitted its future plans and budgets and she did not anticipate any response or hearing if there was any impact as a result of the cuts, if any, until early in 2008.

report by Bev Fearis and The Mole