Tourism Society Journal (Autumn 2010)

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The Tourism Society Trinity Court, 34 West Street, Sutton, Surrey SM1 1SH T 020 8661 4636 F 020 8661 4637 E journal@tourismsociety.org W www.tourismsociety.org Registered in England No. 01366846. ISSN: 02613700 Designed and produced by Wharncliffe Publishing Contact Tony Barry 47 Church Street Barnsley S70 2AS T 01226 734333 E tb@whpl.net W www. whpl.net Š Copyright 2010 The Tourism Society Tourism is the journal of the Tourism Society.The views expressed in Tourism are those of individual authors and not necessarily those of the Tourism Society. Whilst unsolicited material is welcomed, neither transparencies nor unpublished articles can be returned.

The Tourism Society cannot be held responsible for any services offered by advertisers in Tourism. All correspondence must be addressed to the Editor.

Tourism is only available to members of the Tourism Society and on subscription, it is distributed quarterly to 1800 professionals working in national and regional tourist boards, local government, travel agencies, and tour operators, visitor attractions, accommodation and catering, entertainment, information services, guiding, consultancies and education and training.

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Contents

Editorial Why fun must be taken seriously ...

When the 1997 eager newcomers to Downing Street replaced the Department for National Heritage with Culture, Media and Sport, the press were quick to dub the arrangement the Ministry of Fun. Journalists reported the tourism sector’s disappointment (OK, outrage) at the perceived snub – shoehorned into a department that didn’t credit the industry worthy of a title mention.

The latest Tourism Minister acknowledges in this magazine that tourism has too often been viewed as a poor relation in government policy. Lord Pendry doesn’t disagree.

The current DCMS website describes tourism as a ‘hidden industry’. No athlete in training for 2012 considers themselves a tourism product. Nor do Dizzee Rascal fans en route to Bestival, football fans off to a match or shoppers driving to Bicester Village for cut-price fashion think of themselves as tourists.

This month’s contributors spell out the symbiotic relationship that exists between culture, media, sport and the tourism industry.

In the Maldives some years ago I interviewed a local politician about his tourism market. ‘How I envy your British product’ was his surprising opener.Turns out he wished he had more to offer than sand, sea and designer fish. He was jealous of our culture and heritage and our events calendar.

If the daily gush of press releases in my inbox is anything to go by, there are few UK towns or cities who have yet to organise some sort of festival, be it arts, food, industrial heritage or celebrating an ancient folk ritual.

(Mandy Lane succinctly explains why we journalists ignore much of this would-be tourism publicity).

With politicians slashing every possible budget, has there ever been a more important time to convince government of the worth of tourism?

Read on to be reminded of the value of the UK’s visitor economy. Fun is a business to be taken seriously.

Alison Rice MTS |Travel journalist and broadcaster

Improving tourism’s contribution to the economy John Penrose MP, Minister for Tourism and Heritage, Department of Culture, Media and Sport

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Tourism – put in the back bedroom Lord Pendry, Labour Peer and Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Tourism

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For strategic success, collaboration is key James Berresford, CEO,VisitEngland

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Culture as a driver for the visitor economy 5 Aviva Pearson MTS, Business Development Manager, New Vision Group Ltd Getting creative to attract visitors Andrew Dixon, Chief Executive, Creative Scotland

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Your press needs you – help them cook your supper Mandy Lane MTS, Director, Live Tourism

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Location, location, location Stefan Roesch, Film Tourism Consultant

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Cultural Tourism – how can communities withstand the visitors?

9 Ekta Shah MTS, Director, African Sojourn Preparing the UK for the legacy Christopher Foy MTS, Head of 2012 Games Unit,VisitBritain

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Making the dream last 11 Professor Gavin Poynter, Professor of Social Science, University of East London Sport and hospitality: the pursuit of excellence 12 Philippe Rossiter FTS, Chief Executive, Institute of Hospitality Membership News

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New Members and Conference Report

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Front cover: The Midsummer Magic Tour, Lincoln Castle ©Britainonview – Alan Chandler

From the President’s Desk All governments support tourism.

Given the value to the economy and employment it would be pretty stupid not to; but there is a world of difference between general support and real financial support. No government has given real financial support since at least the mid 80s. Real terms spend has been reducing since Virginia Bottomley headed the old DNH. The reason is the treasury which doesn’t do investment – just spending.This government will be no different.

The dust is starting to settle on the coalition and the core strategy is becoming clearer. Whatever one thinks of it, the view is for small government, less intervention, and more responsibility placed on the private sector.

www.tourismsociety.org

DCMS has never had any clout and will bear at least its share of the cuts – probably more.The chance of any increase in spending on tourism is zero.The chance of a real terms cut is high. Most would regard this as a serious threat. I regard it as an opportunity.

VisitBritain and the old BTA have always been government funded bodies with the Chair a ministerial appointment. From that has flowed a lack of investment and an inability to tell it as it is.

Industry sees a tax-funded body and looks to it to perform and is constantly frustrated that it does not do enough. Government sees a private sector industry that gets government support and has its own minister and cannot see why everyone is complaining and poor

old Chris Rodrigues (and his illustrious predecessors) are stuck in the middle trying to square the circle.

Now is exactly the time to invest marketing funds in the future but government will almost certainly cut funding.The opportunity is for the industry to take ownership of VisitBritain, take it out of government hands, and make it really work.The government, I suspect, would not only listen but applaud and help.There will never be a better time to transform on favourable terms. Industry should grasp the initiative and the opportunity, before government impose it.

Lord Thurso MP FTS | President,Tourism Society

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Government’s View

Improving tourism’s contribution to the economy Britain’s tourism industry is vibrant and diverse. It crosses many worlds, from culture and heritage, to hospitality and sport. I hope that over the summer those of you with tourism businesses had a successful season and that many of you also had fantastic experiences of holidaying at home.

As an MP for a seaside constituency, I know better than most the huge impact tourism has on both local and national economies. So I was thrilled when the Prime Minister asked me back in May to become Minister for Tourism in the new coalition government.

I am all too aware – as you are, I suspect – that Tourism has too often been viewed as a poor relation in government policy in the past. But I hope that in the past few months both the Secretary of State Jeremy Hunt and I have shown our commitment to an industry which we recognise makes a massive contribution to this country’s economy. With visitor spending of nearly £90 billion each year and with responsibility for employing 1.5 million people, getting behind this industry is a no-brainer for us. And our priority is to set out some clear priorities that we want to work in partnership with the industry on, to ensure its success continues.

Firstly, with less than two years until we host the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, we want to create a tourism legacy that benefits the whole country for years to come. We’ll be creating a new

‘We also want to give a massive boost to domestic tourism, and have set the industry a new goal to increase the proportion that UK residents spend on domestic tourism to 50 per cent of their overall tourism spend’

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John Penrose MP| Minister for Tourism and Heritage, Department of Culture, Media and Sport

Picture: Britain on View/Rod Edwards

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fund with the aim of generating £1 billion worth of PR and marketing activity. We’ll work with private sector partners to build up the fund and work out the most cost effective way to spend it.The eyes of the world will be upon us in 2012, and it’s up to us to work together to show the best that Britain has to offer.

We also want to give a massive boost to domestic tourism, and have set the industry a new goal to increase the proportion that UK residents spend on domestic tourism to 50 per cent of their overall tourism spend.

I spent some time earlier this summer travelling the country meeting those who work at the front line, to ask them how best we can do this. What’s clear is that we need to re-invigorate the best of our British destinations. It’s true that compared to other destinations we can’t compete in climate and weather, but I believe nowhere else offers such rich landscapes, scenery, heritage and culture, and it’s those British characteristics that we must re-discover.

Of course all this work is being done in the face of a very tough economic envi-

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ronment. Reducing the deficit and continuing to ensure economic recovery is the most urgent issue facing the country. We have been clear and open from the start that this will involve difficult spending decisions ahead for tourism and indeed all sectors across government.

But although tourism will have to bear its share of the pain, we mustn’t lose sight of the tremendous opportunities there are, not just with the Olympics but also with the Diamond Jubilee and other sporting events such as this year’s Ryder Cup in Wales, and the Rugby League World Cup in 2013, and Rugby Union World Cup in 2015.

My role as dedicated Tourism Minister allows me to focus all my attention on the issues affecting the industry such as better regulation, as well as making sure I have regular close contact with my colleagues from other departments on issues such as transport and tax.

I hope our new approach to tourism, working in partnership with all of you, will help improve the competitiveness of the UK tourism industry and help it to thrive as a key driver in the UK economy.

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Parliament’s View

Tourism – put in the back bedroom The tourism industry has recently suffered a number of ‘hits’, resulting in a series of high-profile and damaging headlines.The Icelandic ash cloud incident was probably the worst – estimated to have cost the UK sector millions of pounds – yet the outbound travel industry sector continues to have a lack of influence in Parliament and UK travellers continue to suffer the consequences.

As tourism is a business-related industry, it is a huge provider of tax and employment, and in economic terms by far the biggest and most important component of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport – often providing the wealth that subsidises other components of that department, such as the arts. Successive governments have failed to create a specific department for tourism in the past, which has resulted in a lack of co-operation and commitment between other government departments.

In a recent article in the British Hospitality Association’s annual report, the chief executive states that there has been an “inability of governments in the last 13 years to take tourism seriously”.

However, in actual fact, it has been far longer than that.The tourism industry is one of the largest in generating economic activity and employment in this country.

According to figures from Deloitte, the direct contribution [of the visitor economy] is £52bn in terms of GDP, which equates to four per cent of UK GDP. And in 2009 this directly supported approximately 1.36 million jobs, a total of 4.4 per cent of the UK workforce. (Deloitte, United Kingdom dashboard, 2009, p1).

‘Successive governments have failed to create a specific department for tourism in the past, which has resulted in a lack of co-operation and commitment between other government departments’

www.tourismsociety.org

It is clear that opportunities within the industry have been missed, and some argue that tourism may never reach its heights without a dedicated tourism minister of cabinet rank.

I think those who advocate such a minister are unlikely to succeed without tourism being allied to another important industry with equal claims for cabinet status. I have always advocated that tourism and sport are natural bedfellows, as I believe that there are areas of sport, leisure and tourism which have many inter-locking synergies and should be equally recognised by the government for the economic powerhouses that they are and the further growth potential that they offer. Now, with the 2012 Olympics, the UK tourism industry has even greater potential to grow.

According to the Tourism Alliance, there has already been a three per cent cut in funding for VisitBritain and VisitEngland, equating to around £1m and £300,000 for the respective organisations, and this is in addition to the 10 per cent decrease in the budget already incurred by these organisations as a result of the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review.

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At a time where there are great gains to be made for the UK economy with the investment and the raised profile of the 2012 Olympic Games, it seems to me that tourism funding should be protected and the industry nurtured, not limited by financial constraints which will be detrimental to the UK economy.

It is too early to take account of all the measures in the emergency Budget which will affect tourism.The DCMS’s budget has been reduced by 25 per cent over the next four years. This can only be bad news for the tourism and hospitality industries.

This article first appeared in the ABTA supplement to House magazine, July 2010

‘It is clear that opportunities within the industry have been missed, and some argue that tourism may never reach its heights without a dedicated tourism minister of cabinet rank’ Lord Pendry| Labour Peer and Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Tourism

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VisitEngland Tourism Initiative For strategic success, collaboration is key In March this year, VisitEngland was proud to launch England: A Strategic Framework for Tourism 2010-2020. In its production, the Strategic Framework was widely consulted on.The Partners for England Forum provided the essential steering vehicle to ensure that this strategy would be accepted and embraced by the industry.

The Strategic Framework was produced in the full knowledge that the delivery landscape into which it was launched was likely to change.The investment by the public and private sectors in product development was unlikely to continue to the same extent and international tourism was becoming ever more competitive.

We were confident that England can provide a tourism experience that is unique, that the investment that has been made stands us in great stead and that there is potential for growth.That growth, anticipated at 5% year-on-year, creating an extra 225,000 jobs, will provide both economic and social well-being.

To ensure our industry thrives in a climate of reduced funding, collaboration is key. In the months since March, the VisitEngland team have coordinated the activity of experts from across industry to identify the key actions which together we can take to drive forward sustained growth.

The Minister for Tourism has been thorough in gathering evidence to support his appreciation of the sector. His confidence is articulated in a target to increase the value of domestic tourism so that it equates to our current national spend on outbound trips.

VisitEngland runs a robust programme of research which tells us that consumers require inspiration and information if they are to build an England trip into their list of favourite and frequently visited leisure destinations.The steering group, chaired by the National Trust’s Sue Wilkinson, is on track with the emerging National Marketing Strategy to guide expenditure to those markets which will deliver the

best return, using the best available channels of communication.

Within this arena must also be placed the opportunity that the Cultural Olympiad offers, the England’s events proposal and the plans to boost the business visitor market.

Lack of consistency regarding the quality of experience continues to impact on the visitors’ views regarding value for money.

This is an obvious area where we can all take ownership! VisitEngland acts as an advocate for the consumer and seeks to work with industry to ensure that ‘quality’ evolves to meet consumer expectations and demand.The team developing our ‘England brand tracker’ are working to provide an England visitor satisfaction survey which will help us keep track of what our domestic visitors really think.This work will clearly influence the underpinning pillars of sustainability, accessibility and productivity of the sector.

The Rural Tourism Group, chaired by Malcolm Bell, is well advanced in identifying the specific action that will make a real difference to tourism in rural resorts and destinations whilst Peter Hampson is

following a similar line, chairing the Coastal Resorts Group. Embedding sustainability in all our actions is the long held desire of many. By agreeing priority areas and then working to a common agenda the Steering Group chaired by Anthony Climpson believes real progress can be made.

In my discussions with colleagues around the country the ease of connectivity between the visitor and the experience: the destination, the event, the museum, the place to stay, to eat, to drink, both virtually (information in advance) and physically (transportation to and around) constantly emerges as a priority.

The Visitor Information Plan and the Tourism Transport Plan seek to enable true integration in both of these areas.

When the Partners for England Forum, chaired by Steve Brown, meets this autumn it will be to reflect and debate emerging plans authored and owned by England’s dedicated practitioners and it is through this collaborative process that I am confident we will together deliver our industry’s full potential.

James Berresford| CEO VisitEngland

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European Capital of Culture

Culture as a driver for the visitor economy The European Capital of Culture (ECoC) programme is the designation given to a city by the European Union for a period of one calendar year, during which it is given the opportunity to showcase its cultural life and cultural development.

During this time residents and visitors are invited to come and embrace the culture of the chosen city. Since 1985, a number of European cities have used the ECoC year to transform their cultural base and, by doing so, the way in which they are viewed internationally has also been transformed. A 2004 study by Robert Palmer confirmed that the ECoC programme served as a catalyst for the cultural development and the overall transformation of the city.

Cities wishing to become ECoC must prepare a cultural programme that meets rather specific criteria: it must reflect the European character of the event and involve the participation of the people who live there. In addition, it is required that the programme must also have a lasting and sustainable impact on the city's long-term cultural, social, and economic development.

Thanks to the ECoC designation in 2008, Liverpool now is more than just the home of the Beatles. A now legendary programme of events showcased the culture of Liverpool, with both local and international artists and cultural organisers cooperating to put on the event.

For Liverpool, the value of tourism to Liverpool’s economy rose by an impressive 25% during ECoC 2008, generating a total spend of £617m, up from £493m in 2007. STEAM figures also show the number of jobs supported by businesses within the visitor economy rising by 11%

‘For Liverpool, the value of tourism to Liverpool’s economy rose by an impressive 25% during ECoC 2008, generating a total spend of £617m, up from £493m in 2007’

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Picture: Britain on View: Pawel Libera

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from 7,697 to 8,521. Liverpool City Region’s five other districts – Halton, Knowsley, St.Helens, Sefton and Wirral – also experienced a rise in the overall value of tourism activity in their areas.

The total number of visits to the destination rose from 63 million to 75 million, with day visitors rising by 20% and the number of visitors staying in hotels up by 6%.

In 2013, Kosice, the second largest city in Slovakia after Bratislava, will hold the ECoC title, together with Marseille, France (www.kosice2013.sk). Peter Germuska, the Tourism and Regional Development Manager for the Kosice 2013 project said, “For us, becoming the European Capital of Culture in 2013 presents an important means of addressing many of the issues surrounding the development of the visitor economy and the linking of culture and tourism.”

“Kosice has made already the first significant impact by creating the interface between public and private stakeholders and establishing the first city-wide DMO in Slovakia.This is enabling Kosice to develop a new brand, new tourism infrastructure, redevelop and create new tourism products, and improve awareness

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of the country in Europe, and internationally. It triggers many elements within a joined up approach towards tourism development and gives an opportunity to implement new tourism objectives effectively, and put Kosice on the European tourism map.”

“I feel that for Kosice being ECoC 2013, it will have a tremendous impact on the wider economy and will attract many new cultural enthusiasts to a city that is stylish and cosmopolitan, with a relaxed atmosphere and its own rich cultural heritage.”

According to the European Agenda for Culture in a Globalizing World by the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, "Culture lies at the heart of human development and civilization, and is what makes people hope and dream, by stimulating our senses and offering new ways of looking at reality. It is what brings people together, by stirring dialogue and arousing passions, in a way that unites rather than divides.” The ECoC programme inspires and encourages these ideals, and unlike any other cultural programme, truly improves and transforms a designated city's visitor economy.

Aviva Pearson MTS | Business Development Manager, New Vision Group Ltd

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Niche festivals

Getting creative to attract visitors Since moving to Scotland I have seen first hand the significance of cultural tourism to small rural communities.

Scotland is a nation of festivals, and events such as the St Magnus Festival in Orkney show how cultural vision can directly impact on the growth of a tourism economy.

Flights, ferries, car hire and hotels are at peak demand throughout the 10 day festival and the national and international media coverage brings a reputation for a place where cultural experiences line every street in the mainland towns of Kirkwall and Stromness.

Picture: ©Britainonview / Britain on View

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Add two world heritage sites, the award winning Pier Gallery and a culture where the fiddle is part of daily life and you have a winning formula.

St Magnus, Hebcelt in the Hebrides, Ullapool book festival and the Isle of Skye’s Gaelic music festival may be seen as niche events. However, the more specialist and locally rooted an event the more global its appeal can be in terms of tourism. I met Americans at the spectacular Sabhal Mor Ostaig on Skye, Australians in Orkney and a Guatemalan poet in Ullapool. Just as tourism professionals have their target markets and segmentation so do festival promoters.They are often a mixture of serving local populations, attracting visitors from a regional catchment and targeting specialist international ‘delegates’ from across the world.

It’s June in Scotland with an international film festival in Edinburgh, the Borders Book festival in Melrose, an international jazz festival in Glasgow, a celtic music week between Stirling and Ireland and the world class music of the aforementioned St Magnus Festival in Orkney.

Add a network of over 350 museums and galleries, the burgeoning artists and crafts sector, the daily programming of theatres and galleries and a series of rural touring circuits for film, drama, dance and music and you are never more than a few miles from a cultural experience.

The visitor may not Google and plan to go to village hall theatre but if they come across the touring screen machine – the cinema in a truck for the Highland and Islands – they will have a memorable moment engaging with a local community.

Part of Scotland’s brand is its culture.

Whisky, golf and natural assets are big selling points for Scotland but the creative sector is driving year-round visitor opportunities.

The Edinburgh International Festival is the largest in the world. Edinburgh Festivals are worth a combined £184m to the Scottish economy, However there are other amazing rural tourism success stories too.The Pitlochry Festival Theatre derives almost 70 per cent of its audience from visitors.

Visit Scotland has a rich programme to choose from and will inevitably focus on the big ticket events and festivals but the real story here is of a place where the arts and culture is written through the landscape like letters through a stick of rock. Its literature, film locations, musical traditions and niche festivals offer some-

Andrew Dixon| Chief Executive, Creative Scotland

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thing that makes Scotland uniquely different.

Having worked in NewcastleGateshead within a destination marketing agency that also ran festivals and events, I know that arts and tourism professionals have much to learn from each other.The cultural folk can open up new markets, drive positive media coverage and generate special unplanned moments in the visitor experience.

The tourism teams can help venues and promoters to package their programmes.

If you think back to your own most memorable tourism experiences, they will often be about coming across the unexpected glimpse of local cultural life.That can happen wherever you are in the world but by working together, the cultural and tourism professionals can increase its probability.

The fact that the Scottish government has set up an organisation called Creative Scotland and plans a year of Creativity in 2012 is a sign of how important arts, film and creative industries are to the promotion of place.

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Tourism and the media

Your press needs you – help them cook your supper The press are like fire; they can cook your supper or burn down your house. It’s an African saying about tourism but it works just as well when applied to the media.

Use the media well and it can be the most effective marketing tool you’ll ever use. So how is it that so many tourism businesses and organisations – large and small – squander the opportunities open to them?

There has never been a better time to work with media. Ask any journalist or feature writer about their industry and you’ll hear woeful tales of slashed budgets, mass redundancies and increasing workloads as the few remaining staffers labour to fill not only print pages but web pages and twitter feeds.

The best way to work with journalists is to understand how they work: what they need, why they need it and when they need it. Quite simply, most journalists, feature writers and travel editors start with an empty page/column/screen and they are paid to fill them.The more a business or destination can do to help them to fill their spaces with good copy, the more they are likely to earn a favourable mention.

As an industry we may moan at the highprofile coverage of negative tourism stories: collapsed operators and stranded passengers, ‘overpriced’ hotels, disappearing barbecue summers. But we should rejoice that so many newspapers, magazines and websites still regularly devote so many pages to our industry and positive and upbeat travel features.

So why do so many good tourism stories get lost? Could it be that some PR companies don’t understand either tourism or

‘Let’s call it marketing, and let’s admit that what we all want for our clients and for the tourism industry is for our key messages to be delivered as editorial to our key audiences’

journalism? Too many stories are hidden in press releases that deliver overwritten puffery, clichés, hyperbole and no facts.

What might just tempt paying customers in, say, a glossy hotel brochure is of no use to a writer trying to fill a column of hotel news.

You may be surprised at how many businesses and tourism companies have confessed to me at our Media Masterclasses that they thought long words, fancy writing and business jargon impressed journalists.They know different now.

It was frustration that drove the LiveTourism team to offer PR to destination clients.Too many good stories were failing to get an audience.Too many solid tourism businesses were wasting money on ill-advised releases that only ever saw the media’s Delete buttons. Destinations always benefit when local tourism businesses secure positive media coverage and a good reputation among journalists.

Effective PR is about making life easy for the media. Effective PRs know what to deliver, when, how and to whom.They understand how travel desks and correspondents are attacked by 100 or so emails … an hour. They use know-how and insider knowledge to make sure their

clients’ releases are the ones that are opened, read and used.

‘Churnalism’ is not a term that journalists like. It reeks of laziness and churning out copy from releases word for word. But if press releases deliver good stories to the right media at the right time, why shouldn’t we all strive to deliver them? In his book Flat Earth News, Nick Davies cites a survey of press releases issued across two months by Northumberland County Council. Ninety-six percent of them were turned into stories by local press. In many cases the releases were copied verbatim.

Davies uses the example to decry modern journalism. After all, didn’t Lord Northcliffe once say that news is what somebody somewhere wants to suppress and all the rest is advertising?

If he was right, then what we deliver to journalists is certainly not news. But it’s not pure advertising, either. Let’s call it marketing, and let’s admit that what we all want for our clients and for the tourism industry is for our key messages to be delivered as editorial to our key audiences.There is a symbiotic relationship between tourism and the media, which flourishes when both sides understand how the other works.

Mandy Lane MTS | Director, Live Tourism

www.tourismsociety.org

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Film Tourism

Location, location, location “Visit Britain. Everybody should.” This promotional tag line was not, as one might expect, created by a British destination marketer. It was actor Russell Crowe who, during the location shooting for Robin Hood in England in spring 2009, was asked to serve as a film tourism ambassador for Great Britain and explain his love of all things British. It is a prime example of the powerful message that films and their connected celebrities can send out to potential visitors: the opportunity to experience the magic of a film on location. Needless to say that this magic also translates into hard facts: it is estimated that between 3 to 6 percent of international visitors to the UK visit film locations during their holidays.

The advantages of using film for destination promotion are obvious: they ensure the deep identification of the viewer with the location through empathetic involvement with the storyline and the characters.They can penetrate different target groups through the universal medium of cinema and feature films have the ability to promote a location without the “hard sell factor” of professional advertising as they transport a passively received message.

Clearly, the most important advantage is the fact that destination placement through film is almost “free advertising”.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that for every pound invested in film tourism marketing, the final marketing advertising value, in terms of publicity generated for the portrayed destination, is between 15 and 20 times that amount. In short, the

‘The true challenge for destination marketers and tourism businesses alike is the question of whether the underlying film production has the potential to draw visitors to the film locations’

Picture: Britainonview/Pawel Libera

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Alnwick Castle, Northumberland, aka Hogwarts payoffs are manifold.

So why should destination marketers attempt to combine the message of the film production with their own, intended place promotion images? Several examples have shown that film tourism can only be sustainable if the tourism industry develops products based on the relevant film production and promotes them accordingly. In New Zealand, you can still partake in a Lord of the Rings location tour, check out some of the original props in the Weta Cave museum in Wellington or have a look around the Hobbiton film set. And if you’re a fan of the 1965 blockbuster The Sound of Music, you can choose from an array of tour operators who will take you to the movie locations in and around Salzburg.

In saying that, any tourism product based on a film production has to be developed in a very professional manner, as the actual location encounter is a highly individual, localised, intrinsic, and emotional experience for film location tourists.

When guiding tourists to Lord of the Rings locations in New Zealand, I observed people showing the most extreme reactions one could show in public. For many of them, visiting the film

Stefan Roesch| Film tourism consultant, film-tourism.com

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locations was a once in a lifetime experience. And yet, there is no ‘film location tourist’ as such. People who travel to film locations come from different socio-economic backgrounds, comprise all age groups and possess varying degrees of fandom.The majority of film location tourists do however have one thing in common, regardless of the underlying movie genre: the longing to connect with the imaginary world of the film by visiting the physical and thus ‘real’ location places as a springboard into that fictional world.

The true challenge for destination marketers and tourism businesses alike is the question of whether the underlying film production has the potential to draw visitors to the film locations. On the other hand, implementing new marketing campaigns always involves the risk of not being able to predict their success.

In my experience, the best way to weigh up the chances of whether to implement a film tourism campaign is to team up with the film production company as early as possible in order to get access to the script, but also to maximize the potential synergies for both areas, just as VisitBritain has done so successfully over the past fifteen years.

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Case study: Kenya

Cultural tourism – how can communities withstand the visitors?

As the world becomes a smaller place tourists are becoming more inquisitive, looking to add value and experience to their holidays and wanting to learn more about the ways of life in different cultures.

Culture helps define a country’s identity and can be defined as ‘all the arts, beliefs, social intuitions, characteristics of a community or race’. Kenya, for example has similar attractions to Tanzania and South Africa; what differentiates it is its cultural heritage and its 70 different tribal groups.

Picture:The Travel Foundation

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In Kenya, wildlife tourism has been established for many years, but now cultural tourism is becoming an increasingly important component in most tourist itineraries.

In some areas the reasons behind its development are unexpected. Kisumu and the area around Lake Victoria has become a much visited and researched region since Barak Obama came to the forefront of American politics. Everyone wanted to know more about the son of a Kenyan.

Tourists started including this area in their itineraries and journalists started publishing works on this part of Kenya. Obama mania has brought about direct tourism advantages to the area, and tourists have the opportunity to combine cultural heritage with a safari by visiting the Impala Sanctuary, Kisumu Bird Sanctuary and Ndere Island National Park.

In more traditional tourist areas, Kenya’s indigenous tribes are seeing the attraction of hosting visitors.The Samburu area is made up of three main reserves: Samburu National Reserve, Buffalo Springs and Shaba National Reserve.

Though not be as popular as others in Kenya they are home to some striking species and landscapes.

The blue-legged Somali ostrich, Grevy’s Zebra and the Beisa Oryx roam a landscape filled with termite skyscrapers, rocky kopjes and the beautiful Ewasi Ngiro River.Visitors to these areas are allowed to visit the local Samburu com-

munity’s villages and some get ‘the real experience’ by staying with them.This in turn indirectly benefits the local community by generating wealth.

The Samburu live and graze their cattle in the reserves and might seem similar to the Maasai people of Western Kenya’s famous Maasai Mara, but a visit to the local manyattas (communities) between Oloolaimutiek and Sekenani Gates, spending the day with the Maasai, will reveal the differences.The landscape is different from the Samburu as well; there are extensive savannahs, but also forests and the Great Rift Valley.The Maasai Mara Reserve was recently voted as the 7th Wonder of the World – and people now want to see more than just the wildebeest migration.

Lamu island was home to the Bajun in the pre-Arab times. It was re-discovered in the 1970s by travellers.

Today it is home to the Swahili people, those who intermarried with the Arab settlers and now predominately follow the Arab culture. Lamu offers tourists a feast of Swahili culture, pure traditional architecture and a beach holiday. In 2001, Lamu was added to UNESCO’s list of

World Heritage Sites – a prestigious award for Kenya.

Culture attracts people to visit a place.

Yet tourism can destroy the culture which attracted tourists in the first place.

For example, what attracts me to the Maasai Mara is the wildlife and the people.

The Maasai used to accept gifts such as food products. But over the years I have seen this change and they now want and ask for Western gifts. Some of the villages and manyattas are now equipped with power and appliances.

A question that can be asked, are the Maasai losing their culture and daily lives to Westernisation? Would this have ever happened if tourists did not start visiting the place?

Tourism does have its benefits and disadvantages. However, to ensure that the benefits are seen in the future cultural tourism needs to be developed in a sustainable manner to preserve the indigenous cultures.

How can we in the tourism industry develop a sustainable form of cultural tourism without compromising the fundamental values of the cultures?

Ekta Shah MTS | Director, African Sojourn

www.tourismsociety.org

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London 2012

Preparing the UK for the legacy

Picture: ©Britainonview / Craig Easton

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Anyone who watched the coverage of the World Cup Finals this summer cannot fail to have enhanced their understanding of South Africa, whether that’s of sporting, social or tourism matters.The BBC studio’s incredible backdrop of Table Mountain and the news and features from townships to wildlife illustrated the extent to which the sights and sounds of a host country are portrayed by the global media - (especially the sounds.

Who will ever forget the vuvuzela?)

Whether this exposure will lead to an influx of visitors to South Africa’s safari parks, mountains and beaches remains to be seen. Buying decisions will also be influenced by opinions of the 480,000 returning visitors from the tournament, and crucially by the response of tourism businesses and the tourism authorities in South Africa.

As with previous hosts of Olympic Games and World Cup tournaments, South Africa has faced up to the ‘stay away’ factor during the year of the event – the ‘hmm, perhaps we’ll leave it a year – it will be overpriced / a building site / inaccessible.’ argument.This is something that London and Britain are taking into account in tourism strategies for the 2012 Games.

The net gains to the UK visitor economy from hosting the Games are well documented, with the potential additional tourism revenues of over £2 billion fore-

cast by 2017, but that cannot be achieved by simply sitting back and waiting for an influx of new visitors. Marketing and destination management issues need to be addressed before, during and after the Games.VisitBritain’s approach is pegged to three core objectives: To deliver a world class welcome to visitors in 2012 and beyond.

To enhance the image of the UK as a visitor destination To maximise economic benefits for tourism across the UK There is a logic that if Britain transforms the welcome for its visitors, then it will be more successful at enhancing the image of the country, and be in a strong position to ‘harvest the afterglow’ (to borrow an excellent phrase from the Canadian Tourism Commission) and deliver that crucial economic fillip to the UK economy.

The VisitBritain-led Welcome to Britain group is already taking great strides to improve the welcome even before people leave for the UK, as well as at the ports of entry and the crucial in-country experience.The German National Service and Friendliness campaign in the lead up to the 2006 World Cup illustrates how perceptions, and indeed ratings, of a country branding can shoot up when welcome is taken seriously.

Since 2006 we’ve seen a proliferation in the number of channels through which a

Christopher Foy MTS | Head of 2012 Games Unit, VisitBritain

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nation brand image can be enhanced, and indeed tarnished. So it is essential for Britain to stay ahead of the game.

Broadcast media alone is expected to focus over 4 billion pairs of eyes on Britain during the Games. Under the banner of ‘Britain – You’re Invited’VisitBritain will be exploiting traditional and evolving channels to market Britain before, during, and crucially, after the Games.This call to action already adorns the latest version of visitBritain.com, and will be the lead message for all campaigns from 2010 to 2013.

With two years to go before the opening ceremony, the Games are becoming a reality for more tourism businesses across the UK. With their needs in mind a new website, tourism2012Games.org, has been launched to drive business to all parts of the UK. This includes bespoke guidelines from London 2012 on what can be said in relation to the Games by tourism businesses in their marketing activities.

There is no handbook on how to market a destination around a World Cup or an Olympic or Paralympic Games, but what is certain in 2012 is that media projection will put Britain at the very heart of the global conversation.

The challenge that is being met by VisitBritain and Visit London is converting those viewers into visitors in 2012 and beyond.

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Olympic Cities and Tourism

Making the dream last

Infrastructure changes in Beijing. Who benefits?

In June 2010, the Observer reported that a graffiti protester was working at night in the streets of Barcelona’s old quarter creating symbols designed to provide separate walking lanes for tourists and Barcelonans.The graffiti drew attention to the feeling amongst some residents that tourism, especially low budget tourism, was crowding out local people.

Barcelona is widely regarded as a model of success in using a spectacular event, such as the Olympic and Paralympic Games, to re-design and re-brand the city as a tourist destination. In the period between 1986 and 2000, Barcelona’s hotel capacity increased threefold, the number of overseas visitors doubled to an average of 3.5 million per year and the balance between business and holiday visitors shifted significantly toward the latter.

Tourism has become an integral part of the city’s cultural and economic plans whilst also creating, as the graffiti protest reveals, real challenges in achieving a balanced approach to the city’s social and spatial development.

Seoul hosted the 1988 summer Games.

Its infrastructure development, construction of new buildings for cultural events and its creation of the Olympic Park as a tourist destination have all contributed to the promotion of a positive image of the city and South Korea. In 2000, the Sydney Olympics was accompanied by a campaign led by the Australian Tourist Commission using the event to promote

the country as a dynamic, industrially advanced nation and destination for international tourism. Athens (2004) and Beijing (2008) have used the games for broadly similar purposes, with perhaps Beijing exemplifying the value of the ‘spectacle’ in announcing the nation’s emergence as a global power and, in the process, attracting a significant rise in international and domestic visitors to its capital. Rio de Janeiro (the 2016 hosts of the summer Games) is following Beijing’s example. Its successful bid secured the Olympics’ first visit to South America, enabling Brazil to affirm its emergence as an international economic power and location for international tourism. In the past, 70% of international tourists visiting Brazil came for the ‘Carnaval’; with its successful bids for the two leading global sporting events (the 2014 FIFA world cup will also be in Brazil) there is evidence that Brazil’s tourism industry is rapidly expanding, diversifying geographically, and successfully moving into niche areas such as ecotourism.That cities and nations with dynamic, developing economies are using bids and the hosting of major sporting events to promote themselves as a visitor destination is an important feature of the contemporary world.

Despite the costs and scale of the games, competition between ‘dynamic’ and ‘less dynamic’ cities and nations to host the event has increased significantly over the

past two decades.The host city seeks to use the games to legitimise and accelerate urban development on a large scale, leverage investment and business development and announce or affirm the city’s global status. Enhancing holiday and business tourism is an important component of this strategy. Harnessing the values of ‘Olympism’ to the re-imagining (especially for the visitor) of the city’s past and its future cultural and social development is an important objective of the stakeholders or elites that organise the event and its legacies.

Hosting the Games, however, brings with it dangers.The Games affirm that sport is big business. Hosting the event may bring significant rewards as well as generating tensions between the social and commercial aspirations of the host city and nation.The economic, social and infrastructural changes in the urban landscape may favour the interests of the visitor over those of resident communities, especially poorer communities, as the experiences in Atlanta (1996) and Beijing have revealed. Which brings us back to the Barcelona graffiti; perhaps an appropriate form of protest in a city with such a rich cultural tradition, but a protest that nevertheless reminds us that the Games’ host city must find ways of balancing the warmth of its welcome to visitors with the need to address the social, cultural and economic aspirations of its resident communities.

Professor Gavin Poynter| Professor of Social Sciences, University of East London

www.tourismsociety.org

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Hospitality

Sport and hospitality: the pursuit of excellence

Picture: Britainonview/Britain on View

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According to Business in Sport & Leisure (BISL), the body representing employers in the sector, sport and leisure will continue to be a key growth industry over the next decade. People have increasing leisure time and opportunity, as well as an appetite for healthier lifestyles. Nearly 50% of adults play sport at least once a week.The fitness and leisure market is worth around £3.8 billion. Sport also attracts large numbers of supporters, from local football team weekly matches to major national events such as the Grand National, Henley Regatta, the FA Cup Final, Wimbledon, and the 6 Nations Rugby Tournament.

Sport is part of the fabric of our everyday lives and it is unsurprising that the provision of food and beverage at sporting events has long been an integral activity. Indeed, the word ‘hospitality’ can have two different meanings when related to sport. It can mean the catering support provided for teams and supporters but it also has connotations of something altogether more glamorous; the hospitality tent or box where guests are entertained in style, as if dining in a Michelin star restaurant. Indeed, the high standards achieved by event caterers often match the excellence of the sports personalities

on the pitch, the track or the court.

This symbiotic relationship of excellence has resulted in some interesting developments. One example is Lilleshall National Sports Centre in Shropshire, owned by Sport England. As well as providing training facilities for over 20 different sports and specialist facilities for elite athletes, Lilleshall is home to a number of sporting governing bodies. It is a community centre for over 80 local sports clubs and it hosts weddings, conferences, corporate events and functions, and provides residential accommodation.

Keen to reflect the levels of sporting excellence achieved, the Centre decided that it was essential for all its hospitality facilities to have the highest possible standards.To help drive the process, the management team employed the Hospitality Assured Standard for Service and Business Excellence. Not only did this improve the levels of customer service, Lilleshall recently won an award as highest scoring newcomer to adopt the Hospitality Assured Standard during 2009.

The UK is preparing to host some of the most prestigious global sporting events.

The Olympics and Paralympics, the 2014

Philippe Rossiter FTS | Chief Executive, Institute of Hospitality

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Commonwealth Games and the 2015 Rugby World Cup will attract millions of visitors. Not only will visitors require good dining facilities at the events, they will also need accommodation. One of the pre-requisites for the UK’s Olympic bid was the guarantee of high standard accommodation and catering, not only for the IOC committee and the athletes, but also for visitors.Yet another good example of the close relationship between sport and hospitality.

Whether it’s a local health club with a café bar or an arena hosting a major international event, the hospitality provider is a key partner in delivering the overall experience enjoyed by active participants and eager spectators. More than ever before sport and hospitality are bound together in a common pursuit of excellence. Little wonder therefore that a recent comment by Lord Coe about achieving excellence has a particular resonance: “I am often asked what motivates me to succeed, and how I apply the skills I learned as a runner to my roles in politics and business.The answer to the first question are a passion for the job in hand and a wish to be the best I can be.The answer to the second is that I apply them daily”.

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Membership News I am delighted to be taking on the role of Acting Executive Director and will be working hard to increase the benefits available to all our members, including offering an enhanced events programme.

This autumn the timetable starts with Women in Tourism, closely followed by our everpopular Media Masterclass in association with TravMedia.

Tourism students should attend Future You at November's WTM to hear how to secure that key job. Later we will look at Tourism's Relationship with Charities.

In association with the UNWTO and with the Olympics fast approaching we will discuss how mega sporting events can provide sustainable jobs. Geoffrey Lipman FTS will

chair the event, joined on the panel by Sandie Dawe FTS (Chief Executive VisitBritain), Taleb Rifai (Secretary-General UNWTO), Jeanine Pires (President EMBRATUR), Paul Wilkie (GM Travel,Visa) and John Battersby (Director, IMC South Africa).

Nearer the end of the year our President Lord Thurso MP FTS will chair a timely debate looking at the Future of British Tourism.

To book tickets online go to www.tourismsociety.org/events; alternatively, phone Daniel in the Secretariat office on 0208 661 4636.

Gregory Yeoman MTS| Acting Executive Director gregory@tourismsociety. org

From the Chairman’s Desk I was delighted to be voted back as your chairman for my fourth and final year at the AGM. As a board we are always striving to meet the members' expectations; is it the thought-provoking events, the regional networking or is being a member enough?

To date my term of office has ensured the financial stability of the Society, seen through the successful integration with TMI bringing with it a CPD program and raised the profile of the Society.

However, there is still so much more potential in this unique body of knowledge and experience from across all sectors of the industry – inbound, domestic and outbound. I look forward to meeting John Penrose this month to present the Tourism Society credentials and explore how the Society's extraordinary wealth of knowledge can assist the future development and success of our industry.

www.tourismsociety.org

Congratulations go to Greg Yeoman on his promotion to Acting Executive Director.

He is a loyal and experienced member of the Secretariat and will no doubt serve the membership with dedication and enthusiasm for many years to come.

Alison Cryer FTS | Chairman, The Tourism Society

Book Reviews:The following reviews are available online at www.tourismsociety.org/bookreviews: Olympic Cities: 2012 and the Remaking of London (Ashgate, 2009); City Tourism: National Capital Perspectives (CABI 2009); Hospitality Business Development (Elsevier 2010) Congratulations to …

Colin Dawson FTS, Chief Executive of the British Association of Leisure Parks, Piers and Attractions (BALPPA), who received an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

Welcome New Members Rosie Bates MTS Visit Devon 01392 332 828 rosie@visitdevon.co.uk www.visitdevon.co.uk Victoria North MTS The National trust 01793 817 898 vicky.north@nationaltrust.org.uk www.nationaltrust.org.uk John-Likita Best MTS Tourism Ideas Promotion Services +234 802 318 0465 likitabest@yahoo.com Joanna Royle MTS Royle Consulting Ltd 01347 889 371 jr@royleconsulting.com Caroline Cooper MTS Canterbury City Council 01227 862 571 caroline.cooper@canterbury.gov .uk www.canterbury.gov.uk Rosanne Molyneux MTS LTC College London 0207 580 3659 rosanne_molyneux@yahoo.co. uk www.ltccollege.com Diana Roberts MTS Guildford Borough Council 01483 444 396 diana.roberts@guildford.gov.uk Dave Hughes MTS Tourism Plus 01622 727 472 hughes174@waitrose.com Lynnette Clark MTS Visit Kent 01227 862 791 lynnette.clark@visitkent.co.uk Edythe Coles MTS South East Cornwall Tourism Association

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01503 269 064 greenacorn@hotmail.co.uk www.secta.org.uk Christel Hartland MTS Coulsdon College 01737 558 041 christel.hartland@coulsdon.ac.uk www.coulsdon.ac.uk Silvia Barbone MTS JLAG 0208 133 8131 silvia@jlageurope.com www.jlageurope.com Emma Dadds MTS Thanet District Council 01843 577 637 emma.dadds@thanet.gov.uk www.thanet.gov.uk Sharon Chou MTS South Bank Employers' Group 0207 202 6913 sharon.chou@southbanklondon.com Michael Hancock MTS Destination Alliances Limited 0845 222 0105 michael@destinationalliances .co.uk www.destinationalliances.co.uk Amy Scarth MTS Informed Tourism 01803 712 155 amy@informedtourism.com Michael Swindell MTS Travel GBI/Travel Britain 0207 729 4337 travelgbi@talk21.com www.travelgbi.com Andrew Clegg MTS University of Chichester a.clegg@chi.ac.uk www.chiuni.ac.uk Alan Machin MTS 01132 832 600 amachin@blueyonder.co.uk Ian Ailles MTS Wyndham Exchange and Rentals 0208 762 6603 ian.ailles@wyndham.com www.wyndhamworldwide.com Margaret Price MTS SMP 01759 306 600 onemargaretprice@tiscali.co.uk Continued on Page 14

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Membership News Continued from Page 13 Nathalie Roberts MTS Nathalie Roberts Consultant 07946 307 551 nathalie.amagat@btinternet.com Neil Gauld MTS Brightlines Translation Limited 01225 811 200 ncg@brightlines.co.uk www.brightlines-translation.co.uk Jes Paine MTS Hospitality Travel and Leisure Management 07854 196 609 jes.paine@htlmanagement.co.uk www.htlmanagement.co.uk Rosie Robbins MTS Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide 0207 309 1014 rosie.robbins@uk.ogilvypr.com www.ogilvypr.com Alistair Dabbs MTS Travel GBI/Travel Britain 0207 729 4337 travelgbi@talk21.com www.travelgbi.com Silvanos Gwarinda MTS University of Bedfordshire 01582 743 487 silva2403@gmail.com www.beds.ac.uk Craig Stewart MTS Roomgenie 0141 270 2172 craig@roomgenie.com www.roomgenie.com Sue Chater MTS New Vision Group Ltd 0845 430 0321

sue.chater@newvisiongroup.co.uk www.newvisiongroup.co.uk Andrew French MTS Somo Ltd 0207 517 5707 andrew@somoagency.com Rubina Vieira MTS University of Sunderland 07940 722 044 rubinavieira@hotmail.com www.sunderland.ac.uk Caroline Patterson MTS Stevenson College Edinburgh 0131 535 4600 cpatterson@stevenson.ac.uk www.stevenson.ac.uk Ablie Joseph Mendy MTS North London College of Business Studies 0203 130 1726 kalment40@googlemail.com www.nlcbs.co.uk Mark Hands MTS Cadbury House Hotel Health Club & Spa 01934 834 343 markhands@cadburyhouse.com Martin-Christian Kent MTS People 1st 01895 817 008 martin-christian.kent@people1st.co.uk www.people1st.co.uk Luke Ellix MTS 0792 181 4869 lukeellix@fsmail.net Brian Cooper MTS Resort Marketing Ltd 01305 770 111 brian.cooper@resortmarketing.co.uk Roseanna Johnson MTS Hello London Events

07968 200 368 rozj@talktalk.net www.hellolondonevents.co.uk Catherine Ford MTS The Caravan Club 01342 336 732 catherine.ford@caravanclub.co.uk www.caravanclub.co.uk Ann Irish MTS Wentworth Castle Gardens & Stainborough Park Heritage Trust 01226 776 040 annirish38@googlemail.com www.wentworthcastle.org Welcome New Students Babak Taheri University of Strathclyde babak.taheri@strath.ac.uk Novie Johan University of Surrey n.johan@surrey.ac.uk Sharon Hughes Llandrillo College sharon.hughes@llandrillo.ac.uk Sarah Gardner Oxford Brookes University sarah_gardner18@hotmail.com Mark Williams Edinburgh Napier University markwill14@googlemail.com Shaunakay Baxter Thames Valley University shaunabaxter@yahoo.co.uk James Morgan University of Westminster morganj@westminster.ac.uk

Annual Conference Report A record number of delegates attended the Society’s Annual Conference in June – 10% more than our previous best attendance.The event took place in the beautiful surroundings of Lord’s Cricket Ground in London. Carrier Group sponsored the event and we thank them for helping make it a success.

High powered and inspiring speakers ensured interesting and lively debate throughout the day. A revised format introducing breakout sessions proved very popular, allowing delegates to take a more active role in the proceedings. As well as the formal sessions there was plenty of opportunity for networking and developing useful business contacts – always one of the most important aspects of our events.

A selection of the Society’s Corporate Partners and Members had stands and their representatives were available to discuss possible areas of collaboration.

The theme this year was ‘A New Decade of Tourism’.Tobias Ellwood MP, former Shadow Tourism Minister, opened the day with the keynote address. Given the right support, he said, tourism could move from

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5th to 4th largest industry in the UK; the newly formed Coalition government would take steps to encourage greater domestic tourism spending, ensure the Olympic legacy was secured and help entrepreneurs and small companies by freezing business rates.

Mr Ellwood also supported permanent daylight saving, to increase the amount of leisure time available and help business dealing with European customers and suppliers.

The morning’s plenary sessions examined the strategies, funding and delivery of tourism policy following the recent general election, and tourism’s impact and responsibilities in relation to biodiversity and sustainability. In both these areas, effective and inspirational marketing was seen as critical to reaching clients – to build the right image from VisitBritain’s point of view and to encourage customers to chose the right holiday that gives them the best ‘experience for money’ and offers the most responsible approach.

The four breakout sessions gave a choice of subjects and reconvened to present their conclusions.

Issue 144 Autumn 2010

The highlights were: New Media & Marketing for the Future Smart phones will become increasingly important as a way for people to receive information, such as details about visitor attractions.

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and Tourism Well-structured CPD programmes created in partnership with industry will help address employee skills issues.

Conferences and Events in the Digital Age Trade events are no longer restricted to one time and place; engaging with customers before, during and after the event through social media is key.

Politics, Philosophy and Economics for Small Tourism Businesses Many small business owners are unaware of the details of national tourism structures, sometimes out of personal choice; financial decisions such as interest rate and VAT changes are more immediately important.

For slides from certain sessions see www.tourismsociety.org/tourism_society_ann ual_conference_2010. Next year's Conference venue has not yet been decided and therefore all destinations and/or private venues are welcome to bid as hosts.

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TOURISM SOCIETY & UNWTO DEBATE 2010

The Olympics: How can great sporting events create lasting jobs?

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Tuesday 21st September 2010 6.15pm – 10.00pm 76 Portland Place, London Focusing on the 2012 Olympics in the context of similar mega-events such as this year’s FIFA World Cup in South Africa, and the next one in Brazil, this debate will examine the critical issue of tourism, mega sporting events and job creation.

This will be your opportunity to ask the leaders of the industry your questions on what will truly be the legacy of the 2012 Games.

Chair: Geoffrey Lipman FTS, Assistant to the Secretary-General, UNWTO Speakers: Taleb Rifai Secretary-General, UNWTO Sandie Dawe FTS, Chief Executive,VisitBritain Jeanine Pires President, Embratur Paul Wilkie General Manager Tourism,VISA Further speakers to be confirmed.

TICKETS including refreshments: Members: £45 Non-members: £65 Student/Retired: £30

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Visit www.tourismsociety.org to book your place today or email daniel@tourismsociety.org for more information or call 0208 661 4636.

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