The
Tourism Network UK Industry Survey
You
want…
Every
now and then we do something just for fun. Maybe
not the same kind of fun as normal people but fun in the sense
that no-one told us to do it and no-one was paying us to
do it. We were just curious.
We
wondered what you thought about all the changes
taking place in the industry, and what services
you
need.
So
we conducted a survey and thanks to many of you, got a fantastic
response. See the questions we asked on www.tourismconsultation.com &
add your comments if you wish.
These are some key findings from the survey:
There was good understanding of VisitBritain and their activities
but very few respondents understood what is happening with all
the structural changes in the English regions. Concerns were expressed
about the seeming lack of co-ordination and how the current changes
will be of direct relevance and benefit to those actually working
in the tourism industry.
We
asked, “if
you could wave a magic wand for support or information to make
your job easier (apart from more money!) what
would you wish for?” Three topics were repeated by respondents
again and again. You said you wanted: 1) more access to tourism
statistics, research, case studies and information about trends;
2) A single source or “one stop shop”, with example
on all appropriate services for the industry - training, practical
case studies, marketing expertise, articles, “how to” advice,
contact details for useful organisations etc; 3) to be more involved
in decision making by the organisations who purport to represent
the industry and be more involved in campaign planning by tourist
boards. This comment was usually made by people with
marketing budget to spend but who are sometimes consulted too late
in their
planning process, or not at all but expected to make financial
contributions to campaigns.
There are numerous
organisations to help tourism businesses with business advice
or skills development. We asked what your experience
or knowledge of these organisations is. The overwhelming majority
of respondents didn’t feel that they have sufficient understanding
of them. Some people had had bad experiences in the past because
they felt some support agencies don’t have really understand
the tourism industry.
We received
many suggestions for interesting ways to improve collaboration
within the industry. These included more networking events, mentoring
schemes, “less political correctness – more action”,
groupings of organisations from particular sectors, new ways to
share information and ideas, and having a better overview of the
industry and its individual components.
You
get…
Of course we
had an ulterior motive for undertaking this research. We had
already decided to launch the www.TourismKnowledge.com website
and new programme of Tourism Network meetings but wanted to test
demand for the site and refine the concept a little. Here’s
what we’re doing as a result of your comments:
A
better overview of the recent changes and easy way to keep
track of what’s happening in the industry – we’ve
put together our FREE
Introductory Guide to the UK Tourism Industry for you to download, written an overview of the changes to the
Regional Tourist Boards and the next Tourism Network meeting will
include a briefing on what’s happening in London and where
to go for more help. The Tourism Network Newsletter will continue
to keep you up to date.
Better
research, statistics and case studies – you may be
surprised to realise just how much research, stats and information
is already available free of charge. But it can be hard to find – we’re
writing a series of articles about research, what’s happening
and how to DIY. You’ll find plenty of links to freely available
research within www.tourismknowledge.com/research.htm. More information
will be added as we come across it.
You
want a “one stop shop” for information and advice
to make your job easier – that’s exactly what
this site is designed to be!
You
want to know more about the organisations who can help you – that’s
the subject of the next Tourism Network Meeting on 25th October,
and a special section on help within this website.
We’ll
keep adding more!
You
want more networking opportunities – that’s why
we’re now able to announce our full programme of Tourism
Network Meetings so you can see in advance just how many opportunities
there are. But if there are more subjects you’d like to see
covered, please let us
know and we’ll be happy to arrange
additional meetings if we think there is sufficient demand.
There were
several other ideas and responses that we found interesting and
important but aren’t able to act upon ourselves. We’ll
be passing these comments on to the “powers that be” and
hoping they act on your behalf.
Many thanks to all those who took part in the online survey.
We've found that the level of respondents to online surveys is usually
higher than by other research methods. If you'd like to commission
The Tourism Network to undertake an online survey on your behalf,
you'll probably be pleasantly surprised at how quick, cheap and easy
it is to do! Get in touch!
Susan
Briggs
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