Restaurants are feeling left out
It's official - they aren't seen as part of the tourism industry, says Ian McKerracher.
I would like to applaud the Department for Culture, Media and Sport's (DCMS) latest initiative aimed at getting to grips with the hospitality industry.
Secretary of state Tessa Jowell and minister Kim Howells hosted a meeting of some 30 representatives from the hotel, restaurant, pub, tourism and leisure sectors this month. Much was discussed, with how to create a single voice for the industry one of the themes running through the event.
The proposal on the table was the formation of the Tourism Alliance, whose ideas will be transmitted to the Government by the CBI.
The CBI already does an excellent job representing the interests of major corporations and director-general Digby Jones is a well-known, highly respected figure in the business world.
With this might on our side, the argument runs, we will have a more direct route through to Government and our combined voice will have a significantly greater impact.
The bodies involved in the Tourism Alliance represent tour operators, visitor attractions, homes and holiday parks, hotels and pubs. A few of the big restaurant chains will be represented, because of other aspects of their businesses, but 95% of the restaurant industry, made up of small groups and independent operators have been left out.
It is telling that restaurants are not seen as part of the tourism industry.
When I mentioned this to a member of the English Tourism Council, she was refreshingly candid. "You don't really have a box," she said.
According to the Hospitality Training Foundation's Labour Market Review 2001, restaurants account for nearly half the total number of establishments in the hospitality industry and a quarter of the 1.76 million employees. On numbers alone, we deserve representation at the most senior level.
If we don't fit with tourism, it's frustrating that those of us representing the interests of restaurateurs have spent all this time lobbying the DCMS. Perhaps we should have been knocking at the door of the Department of Trade & Industry. Its small business section seems a more natural home for us.
The DTI is interested in promoting the talents of British entrepreneurs - and their success stories are what make the restaurant sector so exciting. The DTI understands the burden created by yet more red tape and has worked closely with the Better Regulation Task Force to find a way forward.
The Restaurant Association represents groups and independent restaurateurs. We cannot allow a situation where our members are displaced persons in the corridors of Government. Our task now is to identify our rightful place.
