PAPER E

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, PLANNING, TOURISM AND LEISURE SERVICES SELECT COMMITTEE – 8 JANUARY 2004

NEW POLICIES FOR TOURISM

REPORT OF THE HEAD OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND TOURISM

REASON FOR SELECT COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION

Members agreed to receive a report on this matter at a previous meeting of the Committee.

ACTION REQUIRED BY THE SELECT COMMITTEE

To make comment on the principles underpinning the necessary changes to the relationship between Isle of Wight Tourism and the Industry.

BACKGROUND

Isle of Wight Tourism is a department of the Council which seeks to work in partnership with the tourist industry (principally the Island Tourist Industry Association; ITIA) to develop and promote the Isle of Wight as a leading UK tourist destination.

The department undertakes the following principal roles which contribute to its overall operation.

· Marketing, press and production.

· Sales and membership.

· Call Centre and distribution (of printed material eg guides).

· Tourist Information Centres (TICs).

· Accounts.

· Strategic Management.

It currently operates a joint ‘membership’ scheme with ITIA which has approximately 810 member establishments. The majority of the membership fee is effectively a subscription paid to Isle of Wight Tourism in order that the members can participate in a range of services offered by it. The remainder of the fee is paid to ITIA to enable it to run its branch operations and operate as a ‘voice’ for the industry.

The services offered by Isle of Wight Tourism are generally only available to businesses that are members of it and have therefore paid their subscriptions to it. The benefits currently on offer to businesses are shown in Annex 1.

An investigation undertaken by the Ombudsman in 2003 was critical of:-

· The lack of clarity/transparency in the structure of the tourism services and membership scheme of ITIA.

· The ability of non-members of ITIA to have a voice when tourism issues affecting them are considered.

The Ombudsman was however comforted by the fact that work was already in progress to deal with these issues. The key actions coming out of this work can be summarised at:-

a) The Council and ITIA terminate their existing arrangements.

b) The Council to make its tourism services available to all Island businesses subject to any terms and conditions that it may wish to agree.

c) The Island Tourist Industry Association become a stand alone membership organisation.

d) All trade associations to be treated equally in any negotiation which they may wish to undertake with the Council to seek benefits for its members.

These 4 basic principles will drive the detailed changes to the existing service offer of the Council through Isle of Wight Tourism. The changes will begin in April 2004 but will not become fully operational to April 2005 on the basis that some businesses have a significant term to run until the end of their existing membership.

The services to be offered by the Council will be packaged by service sector as shown in Annex 2. It is not thought efficient or economic to offer the services as individual ‘deals’ to businesses and this is therefore not being proposed at this time.

RELEVANT PLANS, POLICIES, STRATEGIES AND PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Tourism is estimated to be worth £312 million to the Island’s economy and to support 1 in 3 jobs (directly and indirectly).

In March 2002 Council debated the strategic importance of tourism to the Island and recognised that tourism was the “Island’s major industry” and is the future key to prosperity.

Developing Tourism is one of the seven themes of the Community Strategy, to be achieved through, in the main, the development of a tourism development plan.

Tourism is encapsulated in the Council’s Corporate Plan Objective of “encouraging Job creation and economic prosperity”. This identifies that the industry has great potential to expand on the Island and that the Council seeks to work with partners to “support development of the Island as one of the UK’s leading tourist and leisure destinations”.

The recently produced draft Island Cultural Strategy recognised the importance of the links between cultural services and tourism. One of its six themes relates to the development of all-year round tourism and part of its overall aim is to use cultural services to “assist” in underpinning the Island’s tourism industry”.

CONSULTATION PROCESS

As set out in the report.

FINANCIAL, LEGAL, CRIME AND DISORDER IMPLICATIONS

None for the Council arising out of this report.

ANNEXES ATTACHED

Annex 1 : Current Membership Services.

Annex 2 : Proposed Service Packages.

Contact Point : John Metcalfe,  Tel: 823842, email: [email protected]

JOHN METCALFE

Head of Community Development and Tourism

ANNEX 1

CURRENT MEMBERSHIP SERVICES

· Free standard line entry in suitable official publications.

· Free internet page on IWT website.

· Quarterly issue of Tourism News.

· Discounts on credit/debit card processing fees.

· Code of Conduct Certificate and Membership Stickers.

· Tourist Information Centres.

· Free advice on marketing, printing, PR and tourism development.

· Direct Debit facilities.

· Discounts on Training Courses.

BENEFITS TO ACCOMMODATION PROVIDERS

· Participation in Tourist Information Centres and Wight Hotline Booking Services.

· Tourist information Centre Booking Service (in person).

· Referral Service.

· Commissionable Holiday Insurance and Travellers Protection Services.