Quality grading made compulsory

by Angela Jameson

All serviced accommodation participating in the National Crown Scheme must be quality graded from April 1996, the English Tourist Board (ETB) announced at the British Travel Trade Fair last week.

The declaration follows the publication of the Department of National Heritage's action plan Tourism: Competing with the Best (News, 2 March), which claimed the Crown scheme as it stood was confusing for customers.

In Scotland and Northern Ireland quality grading is already compulsory, and the Wales Tourist Board (WTB) is expected to follow suit.

The ETB will consult the trade through the British Hospitality Association (BHA) and the regional tourist boards to introduce the changes smoothly. Consumer research, part-funded by the Heritage department, is also planned.

Robin Lees, chief executive of the BHA, welcomed the proposed changes, describing the classification-only system as "nothing more than a quartermaster's checklist".

He added that he could not see why the ETB had held back on the issue for so long.

The move was made as all four national tourist boards declared their objectives to raise quality in the light of figures showing domestic tourism at an all-time low. From 1996, regional tourist boards will only promote hotels that have been quality inspected.

The extent to which membership of the scheme will be affected is difficult to gauge, though the ETB is optimistic it will rise once the benefits of compulsory quality grading become apparent, as happened in Scotland.

Membership currently totals 11,400 properties, which represents 60% of serviced accommodation in the UK. The ETB estimates this could grow to 15,000, despite the higher fee payable for a quality grading.

Stephen Mills, the ETB's assistant director responsible for development, said: "There will probably be some animosity from hoteliers, but Scotland persuaded the industry that it pays to be in the scheme and we hope to do the same."

However, STB chief executive Derek Reid warned Scots hoteliers at the British Travel Trade Fair to run their establishments "not as a hobby but on a proper business footing".

Supplying what the customer required was essential to changing Scotland's image among English visitors, he said.

To this end, visitor attractions are also now given quality gradings and a working party, called Natural Cooking of Scotland, is looking at how to set up a scheme for restaurants and catering establishments.

In Northern Ireland, meanwhile, it is the cease-fire which is threatening to create a shortage of good quality accommodation. The level of enquiries so far this year promises record numbers of visitors.

Welsh tourism could also benefit from the cease-fire, according to Paul Loveluck, chief executive of the WTB. He told Caterer that as five of the major sea-routes to Ireland emanated from Wales, he hoped to persuade tourists to make the principality part of their holiday.

Mr Loveluck said he was "cautiously optimistic" the WTB could increase the number of domestic visitors to Wales, where the long holiday market is still substantial.

• The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has set a target for Britain's tourism industry to grow at a rate of at least one percentage point faster than the average of its European competitors.

Director general of the CBI, Howard Davies, said the UK was falling behind established tourism industries in Europe which were growing at an average rate of 7.6%. The average annual growth rate in Britain between 1980 and 1991 was 5.7%.