Summit for the weekend

The quest for "joined-up government" is especially apt when applied to tourism. Nominally responsible for the £5b sector, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport cannot address all of its myriad issues directly. If you're worried about the effect of archaic licensing laws on foreign visitors, the Home Office is responsible. Concerned about the problems getting to resorts and attractions? Turn to the transport minister. Want to cut red tape? Lobby the Department of Trade & Industry.

The Government's strategy on tourism, published last April, showed that it understood the unique extent to which tourism straddled different sectors. Various research committees were set up to examine the problems, and culture minister Chris Smith proposed a special summit of heads of department to discuss ways of encouraging sustainable growth.

Weaker pound

That summit takes place on 1 March, but few of Smith's Cabinet colleagues are likely to be present, least of all Chancellor Gordon Brown, whose policies could solve the sector's single biggest headache at a stroke by helping to weaken the pound, thereby removing a major disincentive to foreign visitors.

However, the get-together will include second-rank ministers able to tackle a whole range of thorny problems, from pointless regulation to consumer complaints, run-down seaside resorts, and the need for better transport and training. They will brief each other on the findings of their departments about what can usefully be done in each area, and a public report will be made soon afterwards.

This will be followed in April by a meeting of the Tourism Forum, a 75-member body of key players set up by the British Tourist Authority (BTA) at the end of last year to canvass views in the sector and act as a go-between with the Government.

One of the main gripes to come through has been the excessive burden of red tape on hotels and restaurants. The Government has responded by setting up a task force led by Lord Haskins to meet criticisms of unnecessary or outdated rules and inconsistencies in their application. Its report is due shortly.

Another move has been led by the British Hospitality Association (BHA), which is responding to persistent media jibes of "rip-off Britain" by contributing a study on hotel charges. Its report will brief ministers on contentious issues such as telephone use and single-bed supplements, with a view to encouraging greater fairness and transparency.

"Getting all the key ministers together has to be a very big plus, not just to report on progress that has been made in the past year, but also what needs to be done in the future," says chief executive Bob Cotton, who recently moved to the BHA after a spell advising the Government on hospitality issues.

That is also the view of the English Tourism Council (ETC). "We broadly welcome ministers getting together, but that's not enough; they have to be seen to be doing something proactive," comments head of policy and strategy Richard Dickinson.

Formerly the English Tourist Board, a sister organisation to the BTA, the ETC was launched in July to provide a more strategic role. While the BTA campaigns to promote Britain overseas, the new body is chiefly concerned with development and driving up standards, with a £10m budget at its disposal.

Seaside resorts

One initiative is a consultation exercise on rural tourism, with a new strategy expected to emerge later in the year. Also under examination is the neglect of smaller seaside resorts, many of which suffer from too much poor-quality accommodation.

"The aim is to pull together people who are not just about resort development and management, but also designers and experts in finance and regeneration," Dickinson says. "There has been some encouraging news from Government, with new money from Europe that for the first time will be channelled to resorts in peripheral areas in need, such as Torbay, Margate and Whitby."

Dickinson also welcomes the participation of the Department for Education &Employment in the Government's tourism strategy. "Some of its New Deal training initiatives have been quite positive, but the departments that run those sorts of programme - for instance, on business competitiveness - need to take more account of tourism," he argues.

Boosting IT in business is one of the Government's pet projects, and the ETC sees this as an essential plank of future development. The Internet, in particular, is expected to be a growing factor in travel and holiday bookings, especially for overseas visitors, and smaller hotels are in danger of being left behind.

"We know from our research that use of IT in micro-businesses is limited; many don't even have a computer, let alone a Web site," Dickinson says.

A major issue is transport, but Dickinson points out that there was hardly any mention of tourism in the White Paper 18 months ago or in the new transport bill.

The ETC has set up two research groups on the subject and will be making recommendations on how Government can make a difference. Projects under discussion include ways to manage coaches in historic towns such as Bath and Cambridge so that they don't all arrive at the same time.

Another concern is how visitors are to get to resorts and move around them. "There is a push to reduce private car use, but we believe that in many peripheral locations you need the car and it will always have a key role," Dickinson says.

That's a worry for the regions in Britain's extremities, which are especially vulnerable to poor public transport and any moves to discourage road travel.

Consultation with drivers

"We can't carry on having ever more cars, because that destroys what people are coming to see," concedes Malcolm Bell, chief executive of the West Country Tourist Board. "What we need is not a compulsory system but one that people with cars will want to use, which requires consultation."

One of Bell's main concerns is the Government's proposal to increase the traditional three school terms to five. In theory, that could help hoteliers by spreading out the demand for holiday accommodation. But the potential pitfalls underline the need for just the kind of cross-departmental awareness the Government seems to be encouraging.

"The disaster scenario is that every school shuts for the same four weeks, so that the whole summer season contracts to the period between mid-July and mid-August. That would cause huge congestion problems," he says. "Now, if term times were zoned across the country, the season could be lengthened in a way that would help everybody."

Key Tourism Needs

• Reduction of red tape

• Late-night opening for pubs

• Transparent hotel charges

• Money for neglected resorts

• Better provision of skills and training

• More money for promoting Britain abroad

• Better access to resorts and attractions

• More flexible school holidays

Tourism Tomorrow

A year ago the Government outlined a 15-point strategy in its document Tourism Tomorrow. In addition to next week's meeting of ministers it promised:

• A blueprint for development of tourism

• Initiatives to widen access to tourism

• More money for overseas promotion

• Internet systems to deliver more bookings

• New computerised booking systems

• A major careers festival and image campaign

• A programme to support Investors in People

• A new strategic national body for England

• A new grading system for accommodation

• Development of the London hotel market

• Integrated promotion of England's attractions

• Development of niche markets

• Regeneration of traditional resorts

• More Government spending in regions

Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 24 February - 1 March 2000