MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE TOURISM PARTNERSHIP HELD AT COUNTY HALL, NEWPORT, ISLE OF WIGHT ON MONDAY 4 FEBRUARY 2002 COMMENCING AT 2 PM
Present :
Isle of Wight Council
Mrs M A Jarman (Chairman), Miss H L Humby, Mr A J Mellor, Mr H Rees, Mrs S A Smart
Island Tourism Industry Association
Mr S Dabell, Ms J Saville
Also In Attendance
Mr T Addison - Head of Tourism Services, Mrs E Dutton - Corporate and Environment Services, Mr G Hughes - Finance and Information, Mr H Matthews - IW Tourism
Apologies :
Ms O Glass, Mr J Slater, Mr L Stritten, Mr R Teasdale
8. MINUTES :
RESOLVED :
That the minutes of the meeting held on 29 November 2001 be confirmed.
9. ISLE OF WIGHT TOURISM UPDATE
The Directors received the report from the Head of Tourism who summarised the activities undertaken by Isle of Wight Tourism since the last meeting of the Partnership. The Directors were informed of the successful breakfast presentation that had taken place with representatives from 20 businesses attending. An update was given regarding the opening hours over Christmas of Tourist Information Centres.
The Head of Tourism advised that meetings had taken place with Wight Leisure regarding the Music Festival and the PR and Marketing of the event. A new logo for the festival had been approved. Directors were concerned that there had been negative comments had been voiced over the Festival although it was believed this was due to the line up not yet being confirmed.
RESOLVED :
THAT the report be noted.
10. FINANCIAL POSITION AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2001
Consideration was given to the report which detailed expenditure and income to date for the current financial year as shown against the budget for the 2001/2002 financial year together with the corresponding details in respect of the 2000/2001 financial year. Directors noted that an additional column had been added to the statement in order to detail budget totals which had yet to be spent or collected. The profile of a large section of the Tourism budget, in particular to expenditure was reflected in year end accruals e.g. Isle of Wight Guide distribution costs. For various reasons it was not practicable to operate Westridge as a dedicated conference centre and revenue established therefore had to be revised down which would affect outturn to 2001/02. In respect to the call centre, booking had been down due to the rural difficulties experienced last year although it was hoped that as Easter fell into the current financial year this would ease the situation. Mention was also made of the fact Southern Vectis had withdrawn the sale of rover tickets and thus there was a loss of income due to a loss in commission.
RESOLVED :
THAT the report be noted.
11. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
(a) The Dublin Show
The Chairman reported on her recent visit to the Dublin Show which she hoped had generated a lot of interest for the Island amongst those who had visited the Stand. Over 800 replies to the enquiry forms that had been distributed had been received.
RESOLVED :
THAT the report be noted.
(b) SEEDA
Cllr Rees updated members as to a meeting of SEEDA - Tourism Task Force that was due to take place later in the week.
RESOLVED :
THAT the report be noted.
(c) Local Strategic Partnership Launch
Cllr Rees reported to the Directors of the recent launch of the Local Strategic Partnership and shared his concerns relating to the role of the Local Strategic Partnership within the regional agenda.
RESOLVED :
THAT the report be noted.
(d) Printing Arrangements
The Head of Tourism advised Directors that a report on the Council’s printing arrangements had recently been discussed at a meeting of the Resources Select Committee. He confirmed that he would be writing to the Chairman to emphasis the special requirements of Isle of Wight Tourism who purchased a substantial amount of print in advance and to seek an amendment to the recommendation to Executive which provided that all work would be sourced to the Print Unit.
RESOLVED :
THAT the report be noted.
(e) Annual Tourism Debate
Simon Dabell gave a report to Directors regarding the 2nd Annual Tourism Debate held at Earls Court. He stressed the importance played by the domestic market in tourism and gave a number of interesting statistics which he agreed to circulate to the Directors in due course.
RESOLVED :
THAT the report be noted.
12. DATE OF NEXT MEETING
RESOLVED :
THAT it be noted that the next meeting of the Tourism Partnership had been scheduled to take place on Thursday 11 April 2002.