A Decade of Opportunity

The greatest opportunity for tourism continues to be the destination itself – England. It remains a highly attractive place to visit with a range of historic towns and cities, established seaside destinations through to distinctive countryside, with ten national parks and over 5,000 miles of coastline. There is also the endless vitality of England’s largest cities – London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool - where cutting-edge culture sits alongside rich history. The variety and intrinsic strength of the English tourism product is difficult to match anywhere.

Over the last decade England’s appeal has increased with the creation of an exciting range of new and improved attractions throughout the country.  The regeneration and enhancement of town and city centres has opened up new destinations and experiences to visitors and residents alike and as ever, England has an incredible cultural offer with world-class theatre, museums and galleries, events and festivals. The market for health and well-being has grown with renewed interest in health spas and country hotel weekends. Locally sourced food is increasingly celebrated and England boasts over 100 Michelin starred restaurants. The facilities for business visitors and conference organisers have also improved dramatically, with new facilities being developed to support international conventions and conferencing.

The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the associated Cultural Olympiad are an unrivalled opportunity to showcase England to a wider global audience. With the ‘eyes of the world’ focused on London, the UK and the Olympic venues, England’s tourism industry must ensure that its rich assets are backed up by first-class customer service, quality in all levels of accommodation and ease of access.

A Decade of Challenge

Maximising the strength of the tourism offer will improve England’s competitiveness globally. To be truly competitive, England’s tourism industry must also anticipate and respond more cohesively to shifting market forces. England’s visitor economy faces significant challenges, some of which are the result of global economic trends while others relate to long-term infrastructure issues and negative perceptions about quality and value for money.

There are a number of financial constraints that must be faced. In a challenging economic climate, public sector support for the industry will be less readily available and in the short to medium term, the industry’s private sector will operate under tighter budget constraints affecting capital investment in tourism products. The industry needs to improve efficiencies and economies of scale and greater collaboration in marketing England’s destinations is required. England also remains a relatively expensive option caused partly by unsympathetic trading and fiscal measures such as high VAT and, for inbound visitors, the high cost of visas and the Air Passenger Duty.

There are challenges regarding perceptions and understanding of the visitor economy.
It suffers from a lack of visibility at various levels of Government resulting in a legislative framework unsupportive to its development, for example, the restrictions imposed by planning legislation. Communications from the industry also need to be improved, emphasising with consistency the importance of tourism, the challenges it faces and the opportunities it has to grow.

The industry must improve its professionalism, product and performance. Standards of service and customer care are not consistently high across the industry and, in some cases, the need for improvement is not recognised leading to inertia. There is still a poor perception of tourism as an employer and there are significant skills shortages in some key areas such as chefs, customer service staff and hospitality management.

Transport infrastructure for visitors is improving but falls below the standard of international competitors and cleanliness, quality and the design of public places is still inconsistent. Tourism brings positive economic benefits along with the potential for negative social and environmental impacts. The industry also faces a political imperative to manage carbon output and therefore must manage to grow the visitor economy within limitations that are increasingly challenging while making the experience appealing to visitors.