Capital offensive

When David Campbell was appointed chief executive of the tourist board Visit London it wasn't without controversy. It wasn't only that Campbell came from the private sector with scant experience of the market, but the fact that he was paid a whopping salary into the bargain. The deal was believed to be the most lucrative in the British tourism industry, being almost three times that of a normal salary for someone in the same post. When the mayor of London Ken Livingstone hired Campbell on a salary of £250,000 with a 20% bonus, it made the national press.

Livingstone is adamant about his decision, however. "I'm aware that David Campbell will be paid the highest salary in the UK visitor industry. It's fully justified by his responsibilities and record," he said at the time. "London is a tourist, entertainment and cultural centre comparable in the world only to New York, and I was determined to secure the best for it."

Whatever critics may say about Campbell, he boasts an impressive CV. In 1981, aged 21, he became Pepsi's youngest ever marketing manager. Five years later he joined Richard Branson's Virgin Group, becoming chief executive of Virgin Radio in 1992. From 1997 to 2000, as group chief executive officer, Campbell was instrumental in making Virgin Radio one of the most profitable stations in the UK.

He jointly founded Chris Evans's Ginger Group in 1997, which was sold in March 2000 for £225m, by which time the company's value had grown by 105%. That year he became executive vice-chairman of the Ministry of Sound entertainment group and is currently nonexecutive chairman of Zenith Entertainment.

It's an impressive record, but how does it translate to the public sector world of tourism? "I didn't find the move from the private to the public sector very different, really," he says. "First of all if you think about who I have worked for - Richard Branson, Chris Evans - Ken Livingstone is no different. They're all passionate people with lots of ideas and are on a mission.

"The mayor is incredibly commercially orientated and recognises the value of the commercial sector. He also recognises that from a public sector standpoint you can stimulate activity but you can't fund activity.

"My job is to stimulate activity and then introduce some private funding. We need to go to people with a proposition, look at it commercially and work in partnership with people rather than going out with a begging bowl."

Before that happens, though, the product has to be right, and this is proving to be one of Campbell's greatest challenges. London, as far as Livingstone and Campbell are concerned, is suffering from an identity crisis.

"One of the biggest problems we're facing is the perception people have of London," he explains. "The French still think London is about bowler hats and foggy days. Other perceptions are that it's expensive or a rip-off, that it's far too complex, it's difficult to get around, the food's not very good, that's it's just about old heritage - perceptions that are nothing close to reality.

"For instance, there are more Michelin-starred restaurants in London, bar Paris, than any other place in the world. And there's huge diversity - there's something like 70 different types of cuisine in this city. You have to go through each of those perceptions and knock them down."

Achieving this involves promotions, campaigns, offers and launches of tourist products. Taking up his post in June, Campbell was just in time to take charge of Livingstone's ongoing £15m Totally London tourism recovery package launched on 17 May and financed by the economic arm of Visit London, the London Development Agency. It has involved concerts and promotional weeks aimed at the domestic and European markets.

He launched Visit London's own hotel booking service in October, offering customers a guaranteed lowest rate or their money back for more than 300 hotels in the two- to five-star brackets. In mid-October he launched a £4m promotional and advertising TV campaign, backed up by press, both domestically and in Europe. Focusing on sightseeing, galleries, museums and theatres, it's backed up by commercial partners like train companies and hotel groups.

A New Year marketing campaign is in the planning stage, targeted at the short-break market to promote London between 26 December and 4 January, while One Amazing Week, planned for February, will focus on things unique to London. Next year Campbell wants to launch a television channel about London running 24 hours a day, focusing on restaurants, attractions, theatre and film. Talks are in place with Sky.

The goal is to increase the economic benefits of tourism, bringing in the short-break markets but more importantly the long-haul ones from America and the Far East - those who spend the most money. It's very simple, says Campbell, London has to get back into the long-haul market and he's convinced it soon will.

"There's only so much of not coming to Europe the Americans can do before they accept the way the world is and start travelling again. That's why we're seeing more Americans coming back to London. A whole lot of people believe London's leading the way, particularly in terms of fashion and creative industries. Look at theatres. There are very few Hollywood actors who aren't making a pilgrimage to the London stage."

There's no doubt that Campbell has plenty of good ideas and the business acumen with which to execute them, but he admits he could do with some help from the industry. For him, liaising with the hospitality industry is an important part of achieving his goals.

"I want more ideas from the industry," he says. "Rather than throw money in a bucket and then throw it out and hope things get wet, we need hotels and restaurants to get involved and come up with their own ideas. Obviously, anyone working in the restaurant or hotel industry is going to have better ideas about that sector than me and we need those people to generate ideas. It's difficult to go out and have a one-to-one conversation with 12,000 different restaurants in London. I'd like to encourage anyone to come forward and say they have an idea. If you're working with someone who's initiated the idea, and wants to do it, the chances are far better for it to work than me coming up with the idea and trying to convince people that the promotion's going to work."

Spend an hour with Campbell and you're left in no doubt that he not only believes he can make a difference to London, but can actually achieve it. What's more, if reports that the once-sleepy offices at Visit London are now jumping with activity are believed, the man's enthusiasm and confidence are contagious. Which is just as well, as the next task on his list is to make a successful bid for the Olympics in 2005.

"We've got to create a backdrop for London that makes people think about London in a different way," he says. "The easiest way not to get it would be through lack of commitment but we've got that on a national government level, absolutely on a local government level and within the business and industry as well. I think we can do it."