ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, PLANNING, TOURISM AND LEISURE SERVICES SELECT
COMMITTEE – 27 MAY 2003
TOURISM ACTIVITY INDICATORS
REPORT OF THE HEAD OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND TOURISM
With the Chairman’s agreement the report on the externalisation of Isle
of Wight Tourism, scheduled in the work plan for this committee has been
postponed until the next meeting.
The Chairman has however requested a report which sets out the current
levels of tourism activity on the Island such that Members are better informed
about the service when considering the issue of externalisation.
ACTION REQUIRED BY THE SELECT COMMITTEE
To note the report.
BACKGROUND
Isle of Wight Tourism regularly collects information in respect of
potential and actual visitors to the Island.
It does this to help inform its own marketing and promotional campaigns
and also to assist the commercial members of Isle of Wight Tourism with their
business planning.
Information on actual visitors is collected on a quarterly basis for a
tourism year which, since 1999 has run from early September to the end of the
peak visitor period. In this way an
annual report is able to be produced by November of each year to inform the
following year’s business planning.
The quarterly periods used for the tourism year are show below, the
dates for the 2001/02 year are shown in brackets.
(3-9-01 to 21-12-01)
(1-1-02 to 17-3-02)
(18-3-02 to 14-7-02)
(15-7-02 to 1-9-02)
Attached at appendix 1 are the headline indicators for the 2001/02
tourism year. Attached at appendix 2 is
a summary of key national statistics for domestic tourism as produced by Visit
Britain.
In January 2003 Isle of Wight Tourism, commissioned through the
Council’s Corporate Policy Team, a baseline audit of the Island’s tourist
industry. This audit involved activity
levels within the industry and whilst the final analysis of results is not yet
complete, it does endorse the contention that the estimated value of tourism to
the Island’s economy is in excess of £300m p.a. and supports 1 in 4 jobs is
appropriate. The audit has also
identified that there are in excess of 3,300 tourist related businesses on the
Island of which 63% are accommodation providers, 11% attractions and 26% food
and drink outlets.
In order to promote the Island and encourage visitors to it, Isle of
Wight Tourism organises two major campaigns each year. The “classified campaign” runs from December
to February and is aimed at developing enquiries for the holiday guides for the
July/August peak season. It consists of
the placement of a wide range of advertisements in popular magazines and
newspapers backed up with a direct mail out to individuals who have previously
requested guides.
The “Image Campaign” is a joint campaign organised with major
commercial partners. It runs from March
to June each year and is aimed at developing enquiries from short-break
visitors who could be encouraged to visit the Island outside of the main
holiday season. A brief note giving the
details of the 2003 image campaign is attached at appendix 3.
In 2002 the combined campaigns generated 166,000 enquiries for the
Tourist Guides to the Isle of Wight.
RELEVANT PLANS, POLICIES,
STRATEGIES AND PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
Theme 6 of the Community Strategy relates to the development of tourism
on the Island. Of the ten aspirations
listed in the plan, that which aims to, “get the Isle of Wight recognised as a
world class tourism destination and appreciated as one of the UK’s leading
quality tourist and leisure destinations” is perhaps the most significant.
The Council has a declared priority within its Corporate Plan objective to encourage job creation and economic prosperity of working, “with the tourism industry to promote the Island as an all-year holiday destination, particularly seeking to develop sustainable tourism initiatives and maintaining and improving standards of customer care in the industry.
A Best Value Review of Tourism Services was completed in 2002.
A debate on the importance of Tourism to the Island was held at Full
Council on 20th March 2002.
The outcomes of the debate are reproduced in Appendix 4 to this report.
The information used to generate the indicator report in appendix 1 is
derived from face to face interviews on the Island’s ferries and also from
returns provided weekly by a sample of tourist businesses on the Island.
FINANCIAL, LEGAL, CRIME AND DISORDER IMPLICATIONS
None for the Council arising out of this report.
APPENDICES ATTACHED
1. Summary of key
points in the 2001/02 tourism year.
2. Key National Tourism
Statistics
3. 2003 Image Campaign
4. Extract from the
minutes of the meeting of the Full Council, March 2002
BACKGROUND PAPERS USED IN THE PREPARATION OF THIS REPORT
Enclosed as appendices.
Contact Point : John Metcalfe, ( 3825, e-mail
[email protected]
JOHN
METCALFE
Head of Community Development and Tourism
APPENDIX 1
Summary & Headline
Indicators in 2001/2002 Tourism Year
This
report provides commentary on the Isle of Wight tourist industry for the tourism
year 2001/2002 which ran from 3rd September 2001 to 1st September 2002. Comparisons will be drawn with previous
years.
At the start of this tourism year
the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre occurred. This had a dramatic effect on all industries
and UK domestic tourism was no exception.
Many people changed their travel plans and the British Tourist Authority
estimated that inbound tourism was reduced by £2.5 billion. However the English Tourism Council
estimated that one million UK residents changed their plans for holidaying
abroad and took a UK holiday.
When drawing comparisons with
previous years, in addition to the 9/11 attack, other significant events which
have influenced tourism should be borne in mind. In 1999/2000 there were the
millennium celebrations; in autumn 2000 the petrol crisis brought the country
to a standstill and impacted significantly on domestic tourism; in spring 2001
the foot and mouth outbreak halted travel to the British countryside for
several weeks. Even though the Isle of Wight remained free of foot and mouth
disease, tourism to the Island was cut drastically for a period.
Over the three years covered by
this report, the economy has been very stable with low inflation, low interest
rates and therefore low mortgage repayments and low unemployment.
Other changes that have affected
tourism in general include the introduction of the Euro and the phenomenal rise
in the use of the internet both to plan and book holidays. In 2001 on-line bookings across Europe were
estimated to be up 66% on 2000 and an increase of 46% is predicted for
2002. The UK and Germany are the
largest on-line travel markets in Europe. (Centre for Regional Tourism
Research ). Isle of Wight businesses
need to ensure that they are equipped to benefit from this increasingly
important sales channel.
During the 2001/2002 tourism year there were just over 2.5 million
visits to the Isle of Wight, arriving by ferry. Despite 9/11, tourism to the Island held up well and the number
of visits is at a very similar level to 2000/2001. However it is 4% below 1999/2000.
The composition of these 2.5
million trips shows what sort of tourism is important to the Isle of
Wight. Whilst there are a whole host
of reasons for visiting the Island, it is still very much a holiday island. A
third of all visits are holidays or short breaks. This equates to 874,000 visits to the Island.
There is some evidence to suggest
that short break holidays to the Island may be declining, certainly the
estimated number of short breaks is down over the three year period. This needs
addressing to ensure the Island does not miss out on this important market
sector.
On a more positive note, the all
important, longer holidays have increased in number: 4+ night holidays were up 4%
over the three year period. These
longer holidays were estimated to have generated a demand for 3.9 million
bednights.
In addition the length of these 4+
night holidays has increased slightly. However it appears that it is the self
catering sector which is benefiting from this increase in length of stay: serviced accommodation guests have been
taking increasingly shorter stays over the
three year period.
Other important contributors to
tourism are trips to visit friends and relatives which generated 516,000 visits
and business trips which generated another half a million visits. However business trips to the Island have
declined over the three year period.
The value of these 2.5 million trips is estimated to be £314 million. Excluding inflation this represents an increase of just over 2%
versus 2000/2001. Therefore, although the number of visits to the Island
remained constant over the two years, the value increased, primarily due to the
increase in the number of longer stay (4+ nights) holidays.
Specific key points this year and comparisons with the last two years include:
·
2.54
million visitors arrived by ferry which is in line with 2000/2001 but 4% down
on 1999/2000 levels.
·
2.37
million domestic visitors (no change vs. 2000/2001; -5% vs. 1999/2000);
·
1.1
million domestic day visits (no change vs. 2000/2001; -5% vs.
1999/2000);
·
1.3
million domestic staying visits (no
change vs. 2000/2001; -5% vs. 1999/2000);
·
301,000
short stay holidays/leisure trips lasting 1 - 3 nights, a decline of 10% vs
2000/2001 and 8% below 1999/2000;
·
541,000
holidays lasting 4+ nights, an increase
of 6% vs 2000/2001 and 2% up on 1999/2000
·
length
of stay of all domestic visits was 4.6
nights which is similar to previous years (2000/2001: 4.5 nights; 1999/2000: 4.8 nights);
·
almost
half a million business visits (496,000 domestic and abroad combined) most of
which were day trips (80%). Total business trips are 5% down on 2000/2001 and
13% below 1999/2000;
·
160,000
overseas visitors which is slightly more
than in the last two years (+10% vs. 2000/2001; +4% vs. 1999/2000);
·
bedspace occupancy within serviced accommodation
ranged from 20% in the winter (Q2) to
78% in the peak (Q4). The average
across the year was 46% which is up 3 points versus last year and level with
1999/2000;
·
room
occupancy within serviced accommodation ranged from a low of 25% in the winter
(Q2) to a high of 84% in the peak
(Q4). It averaged 51% which is on a par
with last year but down 4 points on
1999/2000;
·
average
length of stay in serviced accommodation ranged from 2.7 nights in the winter
(Q2) to 4.9 in the peak (Q4).This is a
decrease on the last two years;
·
occupancy
within self catering houses/cottages/flats (1-10 units) ranged from a low of 9%
in the winter (Q2) to a high of 95% in
the peak (Q4). Spring and peak season
occupancy was higher than last year;
·
attractions
were visited by two fifths (42%) of
leisure visitors (free or with
admission fee combined) which is at the
same level as last year. Staying
visitors were more likely to visit attractions than day visitors;
·
there
were over 385,000 visitors to Tourist Information Centres which is 13% less than in 2000/2001;
·
bookings
taken via TIC’s declined as did
bookings via the Hotline;
·
unemployment
reached a new low point of 3.6% in August which is the lowest recorded level.
APPENDIX
2
Key National Tourism Statistics
(from Visit Britain)
|
UK Domestic Tourism: |
|
· Expenditure in 2001 was more than £59 billion. · In 2001 UK residents took: · 101 million holidays of one night or more spending £17.0 billion · 23 million overnight business trips spending £5.7 billion · 37 million overnight trips to friends and relatives spending £3.0 billion · In 1998 British residents took 1.3 billion tourism day trips in Great Britain with a total expenditure of £32 billion (giving an estimate for 1999 of £32.0 billion). |
|
Employment: |
|
· There are an estimated 2.1 million jobs in tourism in the UK, some 7% of all people in employment in Great Britain. There are more jobs in tourism than in construction or transport. · Approximately 150,000 of these jobs are in self-employment. · The number of employee jobs in tourism was unchanged between Q1 2001 and Q1 2002 at 1.9 million. · In 2001 there are around 127,800 VAT-based enterprises in tourism-related industries in the UK of which 77% are small firms with a turnover of less than £250,000. |
|
Hotel and Restaurants: |
|
· In 2001, the turnover of the hotel industry was £10.5 billion. This represented a fall of 4% compared to 2000. · In 2001, average room occupancy for all serviced accommodation throughout the UK was 58% (unchanged from 2000). Average bedspace occupancy was 42% (down from 43% in 2000). |
|
Expenditure for previous years: |
|
· Tourism expenditure in 2000 was estimated as £75.1 billion. · Tourism expenditure in 1999 was estimated as £63.9 billion. · Tourism expenditure in 1998 was estimated as £61.2 billion. |
APPENDIX 3
2003 IMAGE
CAMPAIGN
The 2003 7-week Image Campaign was designed to drive visitors to the Island in the shoulder season. Advertising continued to develop on the ‘no Island comes this close’ brand campaign and appeared on TV, in newspapers and online.
TV Advertising
A heavyweight campaign ran from the 24th March until the 27th April on Meridian TV. The advertising appeared in programmes such as Wish You Were Here, Blind Date, Heartbeat and Coronation Street and used both the existing 30 second and a new 10 second commercial.
PRESS
Approximately 50 classified advertisements ran, week commencing 31st March, in the travel sections of National newspapers including the Daily Telegraph, the Mail on Sunday The Guardian, Daily Mail, Daily Express, Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Times and the Evening Standard. The advertisements used mainly walking and sailing imagery and encouraged readers to call the Isle of Wight or go online to obtain more information.
ONLINE
The online advertising channel joined the communication mix for the first time in 2003. To allow maximum exposure and to generate enquiries, online advertising was allocated to a variety of activities, including search engine optimisation, pay-per-click listings, and email marketing. Fulfilment of the press, TV and online campaign was and is still being delivered through a dedicated campaign micro site hosted on www.wightshortbreaks.co.uk The site delivers highly targeted content on Isle of Wight activities, encourages Guide requests and delivers special offers encouraging visits to the Island.
APPENDIX
4
Extract from the minutes of the meeting of
the Full Council
Held on 20 March 2002
74. TOURISM DEBATE
A presentation was made by Mr Tim Addison the Head of Isle of Wight Tourism.
Members discussed the value of the tourism industry to the Island. Members were
advised that 600,000 tourist pocket guides had been produced and would be
largely available on the Islands ferries. A television advertisement would be
transmitted, on a national level, in the near future to promote Island tourism.
Members were concerned about the relatively high costs of travelling to the
Island by ferry and believed this was a issue that needed addressing. The need
for an Island airport was raised as it was believed that this would be valuable
in attracting European visitors.
RESOLVED :
(i) THAT the undermentioned proposals be referred to the Economic, Tourism and Leisure Select Committee to develop policy proposals that can be brought back to the Executive for decision :
(1) It be recognised that tourism was the Island’s major industry valued in 2001 at over £310m. With UK growth predicted at 5% per annum, tourism was the key to future prosperity.
(2) That making the Island a better place to visit, would make it a better place to live and work; improving the visitor experience would improve inward investment opportunities across all industry sectors.
(3) The Council must understand how to welcome people. Directors would present an annual report detailing their contribution to this objective.
(4) Efficient tourism, economic, leisure and cultural services were essential to creating and sustaining Island jobs. Council resources should be restructured to deliver improved quality of service.