Brave new world, brave new Britain
Remember the headlines of six months ago - "Tourism hit by foot-and-mouth", "Visitor numbers to countryside plummet", "Profits halved by epidemic"? We were in the middle of a summer of discontent, and TV, newspaper and radio reports became a liturgy of misery for the hospitality industry and rural businesses.
Despite the desperate situation, however - or maybe because of it - a heady sense of unity and camaraderie developed in the industry. Tourism started to be recognised for the contribution it makes to the economy and, for the first time, £64b a year was not being sneezed at.
Hospitality leaders began saying that the situation had to be built on, and moves were made to create that long-awaited "single voice". Some progress was made - the Tourism Alliance, for example - and a more united front was presented to Government than ever before. It needed to be, because, just as foot-and-mouth was beginning to subside (see page 24), along came the aftershocks of 11 September and the subsequent downturn in North American visitor numbers.
In short, tourism in the UK has been having a dreadful year. Somehow, this clean and pleasant land feels damaged.
Well, it's time to refurb the nation - time to get out the marketing toolbox and start repairing the cracks that have appeared in the landscape.
The British Tourist Authority is planning a £5m campaign next spring, aimed at capturing the European and North American markets. Two significant events will cause the world's holiday-makers to think of the UK as a destination next year - the Commonwealth Games in Manchester and the Queen's Golden Jubilee in London.
The problem is that the less heavily travelled parts of the UK need to be supported as well. A promotional crusade must begin at home before it goes abroad. Self-belief in the heart of the country has to be restored - or is that being too unfashionably patriotic?
The Government has always been deft at providing the spin, presenting an image. Remember Cool Britannia? It was like the 1960s, when the Beatles, Carnaby Street and the Mini represented the height of fashion. Tony Blair is still waving the Union Jack as he continues his never-ending world tour of diplomacy, but he needs to focus the attention of his Government on matters closer to home.
If we are at war, fighting terrorism, why not run a sustained internal campaign to raise morale on the home front? This is more than a job for the English Tourism Council and its regional offices, this should be a Government-led and -funded crusade.
Call it propaganda, but what we could do with is a long, protracted campaign, fronted by a well-known and respected British face, to restore confidence in the country, and particularly in the countryside; to kick-start the regeneration that needs to be in place by next year when foreign visitors begin arriving.
Who that face should be - Posh, Becks (both?), Michael Caine? Nicholas Soames, perhaps; even Tony Blair himself - could be the subject of many an after-Christmas-dinner conversation. What's important is that the campaign starts at once. Let's see some of the camaraderie from the "Dunkirk days" of foot-and-mouth return - the industry needs to pull together on this one.
Forbes Mutch
Editor
Caterer & Hotelkeeper
