TOURISM PARTNERSHIP LIMITED
A company limited by guarantee and without share
capital
REPORT OF THE DIRECTORS
TO THE MEMBERS OF THE TOURISM PARTNERSHIP LIMITED
DECEMBER 2006
The Directors submit a
report for the period up to the date of the Company’s tenth Annual General
Meeting.
The Company has not met
since the last Annual General Meeting (AGM) but there have been a number of key
milestones that have occurred during 2006.
Tourism Development
Plan:-
- A Hotel Review
and Development Strategy was completed in January 2006 and has been
used to inform the Island Plan and the Bay Area Action Plan as well as for
specific planning applications for both new and existing development. Two
new hotel developments on the island were approved in 2006.
- Similarly, a Holiday
Park Audit and Review has also been completed more recently and is
being used to inform the larger strategic and planning documents
- A three year Tourism
Training and Skills Action Plan has been developed with key
stakeholders and funding was secured from the LSC/TSE to help deliver some
of it’s key elements.
The
Destination Management System – Integration of the DMS with the website and
a new look Inspire branded website was completed just before Christmas 2005.
Online booking was launched in June and the island became the first and one of
only two destinations in the South East (and 18 in the UK) to transfer its data
and online booking through the Englandnet system. Supporting e-business
workshops ran during the year to facilitate use of the system by accommodation
operators.
Inspire
Branding - All the tourism publications, website and
advertising material were redesigned in accordance with the Inspire design
guidelines. Subsequently, during 2006, the logo was viewed 8 million times on
the islandbreaks website, by at least 9 million readers of newspaper
supplements and across 1 million items of print. IWEP, Wightlink and Red Funnel
have also used the logo throughout their respective promotional material and
within sponsored events.
VFM
Review of Tourism - The Commission
presented its report on the VFM Review of Tourism in May 2006 and,
subsequently, five options have been appraised. A final proposal is expected to
be presented to the Council’s Cabinet in the early part of 2007.
Nigel Smith
Head of Tourism
21 November 2006