Transcript Towards a ‘CPF Model’ - Conservative Policy Forum

Tourism and the Economy
Contribution. In 2009, the ‘visitor economy’ contributed £52 billion
directly to the UK economy, or 4.0 per cent of GDP, and supported
over 1.36 million jobs. Put in context, the three largest sectors in the
UK economy are Business Services, Retail, and Manufacturing, with
the output of the manufacturing industry comprising 11 per cent of
national GDP. In 2011, the estimated contribution of domestic
tourism to the UK tourism sector was £23.6 billion.
Employment. The associated tourism industries are dominated by
smaller businesses, with over 83 per cent of the all companies
employing between 1 and 49 people. Part-time workers make up a
larger proportion of the tourism workforce than the workforce of the
wider economy, with female part-time workers making up the single
largest group.
Tourism and the Economy
What Conservatives in Government have done so far:
 Improving the skills base within the sector by increasing the number of
apprenticeships available in associated skills, making the tourist industry a
respected career choice.
 Giving the tourist industry and consumers responsibility for ‘star rating’
qualities schemes, and allowing the industry to work with consumer-led
websites to make sure these ratings are accurate.
 Creating an industry task force led by senior industry figures from across
the UK to cut red tape.
Question: What contribution does tourism make to your area?
Performance on the world stage
Ranking. According to a report by the World Tourism Organisation,
the UK is in the top ten worldwide both in terms of tourist arrivals
and amount spent, and when taking into account a number of
separate indicators of a country’s international performance, the
World Economic Forum ranked the UK seventh overall worldwide.
Resources. The strongest draw to the UK is our cultural resources.
New Markets for tourists. Our traditionally strong markets are all
either within Europe or the USA. However, the UK is attracting
tourists from new markets, with strong growth in Asia and South
America.
Performance on the world stage
What Conservatives in Government have done so far:
 Improving tourists’ first experience of the UK when they land by cutting
passport control queues with the introduction of more e-Passport gates,
‘Smart Zones’ schemes for pre-cleared travelers and introducing a ‘trusted
traveller’ scheme with the USA.
 Supporting VisitBritain in attract countries from outside our traditional
markets with the GREAT campaign, by marketing directly to 14 of the
world’s biggest cities, including cities in China, India and Brazil, in addition
to utilising some of the UKs famous faces to attract an international
audience to Britain.
 Making tourist visas simpler and more convenient to obtain, by increasing
the world wide number of biometric ID centers, increasing the use of online
applications and producing information in local languages.
Question: What further steps can be taken to encourage more oversees
visitors to the UK?
Question: How should we particularly target visitors from new and
emerging markets?
Imbalance
Rural vs. Urban. There is imbalance within the tourism economy,
with a marked preference for London and urban areas as
destinations, but with rural areas seeing a greater dependence on
tourism as a source of income.
The nations. The individual UK nations are dependent on tourism as
a source of revenue by different degrees. For example, Wales takes
5.8 per cent of its overall GDP from tourism and holds 6 per cent of
all tourism jobs in the UK, whereas the numbers for England are 4.9
and 4.3 per cent respectively.
Imbalance
What Conservatives in Government have done so far.
 Redressing the regional imbalance within the UK by supporting
VisitEngland in their programme to work closely with local areas
and destinations. This will be co-ordinated through the National
Strategic Framework for Tourism, which includes an action
programme developed in consultation with the tourism sector.
Question: How can government help tourists to visit attractions outside
of our big cities?
Question: How can we encourage more people to holiday at home?
Cultural Institutions
Cultural Institutions. The top ten tourist attractions by visitor
numbers in 2011 were all cultural or heritage-based attractions.
Seven out of the top ten were museums.
Free entry to museums. Since the introduction of universal free
access in December 2001, visits to the national museums in England
which previously charged for entrance have increased by 151 per
cent. Around 50 per cent of all funding for the arts comes from
government sources. The rest is as a result of earned income, for
example through paying exhibitions, and private investment.
Cultural Institutions
What Conservatives in Government have done so far.
 The government will continue its grant to the Arts Council which
funds a number of cultural bodies including museums, with a total
grant of £571,393
Question: How do we balance the needs of permanent residents with
those of tourists, and the needs of the tourist industry with the duty to
protect our national monuments and countryside?
2012 Olympics
Direct economic impact. Over £6 billion worth of contracts have
already been awarded to companies involved with the Olympics: 98
per cent of those contracts have gone to British companies.
Benefit to tourism. A survey by Deloitte found that 80 per cent of
all respondents from China and India were more likely to visit the UK
as a result of the publicity surrounding the games. In addition, 60
per cent claimed they were more likely to buy British products, and
77 per cent want to learn more about the UK as a whole.
2012 Olympics
What Conservatives in Government have done so far.
 VisitBritain is managing a four year campaign launched on the
back of the Olympics to attract more than 4 million extra
international visitors to the UK and £2 billion in spending.
 The government is investing £3 million with the specific aim of
delivering 12,000 new jobs, £500 million extra tourist spending
and an increase of 5.4 million in the occupancy of hotel rooms over
the next three years.
If your group could have set one of the above questions on this
paper - what question would you have asked and what would be your
answer?