'My door is open': Tourism minister Chris Bryant reveals outbound sector opportunity
Gary NoakesGetting the travel industry around the table – and telling BT to spruce up its iconic red phone boxes – are just two of Chris Bryant’s first acts in his role as tourism minister.
Bryant’s main concern is inbound tourism, but he also has a part to play in the UK’s outbound sector – and stresses his appreciation of it. His knowledge stems from his father, who built a successful coach tour operation to the Costa Brava after moving there from Wales.
“He did very well for himself after learning Spanish,” says Bryant, who credits his father for teaching him the value of learning a language and of gaining experience working abroad.
On that note, Bryant acknowledges the 8,000 or so UK citizens, many of them younger people, who were previously employed in overseas roles as reps and chalet hosts, and now find these avenues closed to them following Brexit.
Bryant says the new Labour government is keen to resurrect a deal to reopen these opportunities, although in early negotiations with the EU prime minister Keir Starmer has seemed reticent to heed calls for a reciprocal youth mobility arrangement.
Open door to outbound
This will doubtless be a talking point for The Tourism Industry Council, which Bryant plans to revamp with greater input from the outbound sector. Current membership includes the Advantage Travel Partnership and Airlines UK, but it is otherwise slanted towards inbound.
Bryant says it would be “illogical” not to include the outbound industry, adding he may rename the committee, which liaises with government.
Change will happen “soon”, he adds. The outbound sector has long been criticised for failing to speak with one voice. “It’s still a bit more disparate than I would like,” Bryant says, insisting he is yet to hear much from the sector. “My door is open – don’t build up your resentment until it bites you.”
Bryant spoke to TTG at WTM London – the day Donald Trump won the US election. He is diplomatic, saying he doesn’t anticipate a fall in UK visitors. “I don’t think people going to Florida think about who is staying at Mar-a-Lago.”
A more pressing issue for Bryant is overtourism. He wants to spread tourist peaks via shoulder season travel. “I’m talking a lot to countries in Europe,” he explains. “The last thing anyone wants on the beach in the Balearics is a ‘no more tourists’ demo. You can do something about supply, but I’m not going to say, ‘thou shalt not go to Menorca’.”
Better end-to-end experience
However, Bryant’s work will mainly concentrate on the inbound sector. “I get the feeling tourism has been ignored in the past and would get on by itself – it does not work like that,” he says.
He has set up the Visitor Economy Advisory Council, which will create a National Visitor Economy Strategy, to be launched next autumn. Through this, Bryant aims to lift UK inbound visits from the current 38 million to 50 million by 2030.
The Council will also look at outbound travel, including the rollout of the EU Entry Exit scheme and eGate access for Britons at European airports.
So how will the UK hit the 50 million target? “We’ve probably been too focused on what I call ‘the aspic’ – keeping things as they were – rather than the ‘spice’ of what Britain is today,” says Bryant. “It’s about the here and now – how do we tell the story of historic places to a family with two teenagers?”
He mentions live events like the Glastonbury Festival. Does this mean a return to the “Cool Britannia” era of the mid-90s? “It’s difficult to recreate something from the past – even if some of the bands are reforming,” he quips.
Bryant stresses the end-to-end experience needs to be better. Pressed for an example, he mentions Gatwick – “it’s impossible to work out which train to get”.
For Bryant, it’s all about the detail, bringing us back to those red phone boxes. “I’ve just written to BT as I’m cross. Many are in a bad state. And every influencer in the world gets filmed inside them.”
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