VisitBritain urged to fund inbound ops to save the sector
Rob GillVisitBritain has been urged to use its funding to help save the inbound travel sector over the winter months rather than spend money on international marketing campaigns.
Rob Russell, chief executive of inbound destination management company AC Group, said there had been a “lack of support” from VisitBritain, which promotes tourism in England, during the pandemic.
“VisitBritain has provided no support to any UK tour operators or DMCs and refused to campaign on behalf of an industry that they are supposed to represent,” said Russell. “We’ve got a Good to Go badge but it’s no good if nobody can actually get here.”
Russell added VisitBritain should use its marketing budget to help inbound specialist travel companies to survive over the winter and then take advantage of an expected surge in international visitors from spring 2022 onwards.
“Instead of doing international marketing, they should put these funds into some of the DMCs. Otherwise, there will be hundreds of thousands of travel jobs lost,” he said.
“We already have relationships with all the international markets they are trying to target. But they are throwing us to the dogs.”
Russell said tourist offices in Scotland, Ireland, Spain, Italy and France have continued to “strongly support” their inbound travel sectors and helped to secure sector-specific financial support, as well as an extended furlough regime from their governments.
Joss Croft, chief executive of trade body UKinbound, said the sector had to keep fighting to ensure it can survive in the coming months.
“We can’t afford to give up on our fight for inbound tour operators, they will play a pivotal role in the UK’s economic recovery and we will continue to lobby government for sector specific support and engage with VisitBritain to roll out insights and activity that support the industry,” said Croft.
VisitBritain’s deputy chief executive Patricia Yates defended the tourism office’s efforts to support the industry during the pandemic.
“We have made the case throughout the pandemic with almost daily meetings with the various government departments involved, stressing the importance of the industry and the fight for survival that so many are having,” said Yates.
“Funding decisions lie with the UK government and VisitBritain has done everything it can to ensure that the industry’s voice is heard. We have brought the industry and government together regularly during the last 18 months to ensure that the economic impacts and the scale of the response needed to ensure the industry’s survival are understood.
“VisitBritain has been supporting the industry since the start of the pandemic with business advice and support, financial aid to sectors such as business events, repurposing VisitEngland’s limited funding to support DMOs (destination marketing organisations), and domestic marketing to mitigate the loss of international visitors to our cities.
“Our Good To Go reassurance scheme has supported more than 50,000 UK tourism businesses to welcome visitors back safely. We are finalising our international campaigns to drive back international demand as restrictions are eased and working with travel trade partners to drive bookings.”
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