VistBritain: The Merging of the British Tourist Authority and the English Tourism Council

Emails concerning the merger of the British Tourist Authority and the English Tourism Council, February 2004.

Dear Richard Caborn MP

I am writing to enquire as to why the English tourism council has 'merged' with the British Tourist Authority. Is this an example of the UK Government conflating English and British?

As you will be aware the English, Scottish and Welsh are now officially recognised as distinct ethnicities within Britain. Yet, whilst the Welsh and Scots can enjoy their own Tourism councils and Tourism ministers, the English fall under the aegis of the British Tourist Authority with you, a minister in the UK Government, in charge of English tourism.

Do the Labour party now consider it official party policy to discriminate against England as a matter of course? If the Scots can have an executive and parliament, and a tourism minister to boot, to decide upon how to market their nations abroad, do you suppose that it would be reasonable to allow the English to do the same?

Forgive me for being cynical but I wonder whether the present situation is in place to allow Scottish MPs to vote on issues affecting English Tourism whilst English MPs have no reciprocal rights to vote on Scottish tourism since that is a matter devolved to the Scottish parliament.

God speed the day when your Government understands that equality is a necessary component of democracy.

Regards

Gareth Young

Date : 03 February 2004 15:16:28
Subject : ENGLISH TOURISM
03 February 2004

Our ref: C03/19677

Dear Mr Young,

Thank you for your email of 14 January to Richard Caborn about English tourism. I have been asked to reply.

I can reassure you that the Government is very much focussed on supporting the English tourism industry. The merger earlier this year of the British Tourist Authority and the English Tourism Council to create the new organisation VisitBritain has meant that for the first time in many years England is now being promoted domestically as a tourist destination. Bringing the two bodies together has created a considerable saving on overheads and it means that the new England marketing team can use the considerable marketing expertise and materials which existed in the British Tourist Authority to promote English Tourism. For example, some of VisitBritain's overseas marketing campaigns can be adapted to support the domestic market.

VisitBritain's England marketing team is supported by the England Marketing Advisory Board (EMAB). EMAB consists of a panel of tourism and marketing experts from the private and public sectors to advise VisitBritain on its marketing strategies and activities to promote England. In April this year, VisitBritain launched the 'Enjoy England' campaign. This campaign brings a unified, national approach to marketing England and is the result of unique partnership between VisitBritain, Regional Development Boards, Regional Tourist Boards plus a number of public and private sector organisations. The campaign uses a range of media promotions, including national TV advertising, which you may have seen during the last few months. Futhermore, in November 2003, VisitBritain published its domestic marketing strategy. This is a three-year initiative designed to grow the value of the domestic market by encouraging the British to spend more on tourism throughout the English regions throughout the year. On 1 January 2004, VisitBritain launched its Enjoy England Spring Campaign which consists of a high profile television and press campaign and offers a holiday planner so that people can plan their domestic trips for the year. This will be followed up by a number of themed campaigns throughout the year and another major campaign in September. Information on the Enjoy England Spring Campaign can be found on the website: www.visitengland.com.

VisitBritain has recently published its domestic marketing strategy for England. Its key aims are to improve the tourist industry's knowledge of consumer attitudes, develop relationships with private and public sector stakeholders, better promote the England brand through various media and raise standards throughout the industry. Further information can be found on the website: www.visitbritain.com.

Yours sincerely,

John Baldock

Policy Advisor
Tourism Division
DCMS

Date: Tue February 3 2004, 19:00
From: gareth
To: john.baldock@culture.gsi.gov.uk
CC: richard.caborn@culture.gsi.gov.uk
Subject: Re: ENGLISH TOURISM

Dear Mr Baldock

Thank you for your long reply. Unfortunately you have failed to satisfactorily answer my questions: Why has the English Tourism Council been ‘merged’ with the British Tourist Authority? And are the Government guilty of conflating English with British?

You seem to imply that the merger is a cost saving exercise that will enable the English Council to utilise the BTA’s expertise in marketing. If this is the case then why not merge the Welsh and Scottish tourist boards with the BTA and significantly reduce costs even more, or just call the BTA the English Tourist Board and let it look after that remit?

Why do you have one rule for the Scots and Welsh and another one for the English? It seems obvious to me that the English Advisory marketing board should be advising the English Tourism Council rather than ‘Visit Britain’.

I replicate a portion of my original letter here and look forward to a reply from Richard Caborn MP.

“As you will be aware the English, Scottish and Welsh are now officially recognised as distinct ethnicities within Britain. Yet, whilst the Welsh and Scots can enjoy their own Tourism councils and Tourism ministers, the English fall under the aegis of the British Tourist Authority with you, a minister in the UK Government, in charge of English tourism.

Do the Labour party now consider it official party policy to discriminate against England as a matter of course? If the Scots can have an executive and parliament, and a tourism minister to boot, to decide upon how to market their nations abroad, do you suppose that it would be reasonable to allow the English to do the same?

Forgive me for being cynical but I wonder whether the present situation is in place to allow Scottish MPs to vote on issues affecting English Tourism (in the guise of ‘Visit Britain’) whilst English MPs have no reciprocal rights to vote on Scottish tourism since that is a matter devolved to the Scottish parliament.”

Regards

Gareth Young

Dear Mr Young,

Thank you for your email of 3 February, further to mine of the same date, about English tourism. I can appreciate your desire to receive a reply
direct from the Minister, but I am sure you will understand that he receives a huge amount of correspondence from the public and therefore DCMS officials are asked to respond on his behalf.

I am sorry if my email did not give sufficient answers to the questions you originally posed. The merger of functions of the British Tourist Authority
(BTA) and the English Tourism Council (ETC) forms a key part of the Governments strategy to reform the tourist industry and is not in anyway a
move to discriminate against England as you suggest. These reforms aim to grow the UK market and develop a competitive market and sustainable tourism industry, particularly the rural industry which suffered very badly from Foot and Mouth Disease and the effects of international terrorism. You can find out more about the Government agenda for tourism in the document ''Tomorrow's Tourism'. This can be found on the website www.culture.gov.uk.

As I explained, we want to make best use of the marketing expertise that existed in the BTA/ETC structure for better developing both overseas and
domestic markets. To help achieve this, we need a modern structure to help the industry succeed. The new single body - VisitBritain - will focus far
more effectively on developing partnerships with private and public sector partner organisations. Many industry partners, Regional Development Agencies and Regional Tourist Boards wanted a single public sector partner for England and Britain. I can understand your concern about England not having a separate tourist body (as in Scotland and Wales) but VisitBritain will be able to use its combined strengths to better effect in support of the tourist industry domestically and overseas. VisitBritain is backed up by theEngland Marketing Advisory Board which oversees and guides the England marketing work of VisitBritain providing a valuable resource in developing industry and regional partnerships and insights into the needs of priorities of the industry.

As you may know, much work is now being undertaken by VisitBritain to promote England as a top class tourist destination to the domestic and
overseas markets. This is reflected in the on-going 'EnjoyEngland' campaign and the England marketing strategy. You can find out more by visiting
VisitBritain's website at: www.visitbritain.com.

Yours sincerely,

John Baldock

Policy Advisor
Tourism Division
DCMS

Dear Mr Baldock,

thank you again for a your time in composing a long and detailed reply. However, I still feel that you have evaded the simple question of why England's tourist board has been merged with Visit Britain whilst the Welsh and Scottish tourist authorities have not. If economies of scale and savings are the rationale, then how can separate Scottish and Welsh entities be justified?

Given that tourism is an issue devolved to the Scottish parliament and Welsh Assembly the organisation whose role should called into question is the British Tourist Authority and not the English Tourist Board. Instead your department have taken the decision to 'merge' the two organisations giving it the name 'Visit Britain' - why not just call it 'Visit England' and let the separate tourist boards market themselves internationally? Quite clearly this decision is not allowing England the same independence from Britain as Scotland and Wales have been allowed and is therefore prejudiced against England. I think that this merger decision has been taken so that Scottish and Welsh MPs can continue to vote on English tourism using the excuse that it is actually 'Visit Britain', whereas English MPs cannot vote on tourism affecting Scotland and Wales. Everything that you have told me has reinforced this impression and the sad thing is that you realise it too but cannot allow yourself to admit it.

If you or Richard Caborn are unprepared to tell me why your department conflates England and Britain, whilst explicitly acknowledging the separate identity of Scotland and Wales, I would appreciate if if you could point me in the direction of someone who can answer my question.

Regards

Gareth Young

POSTSCRIPT

In April 2009, VisitEngland became more of a stand-alone body from VisitBritain, more on a par with the devolved entities, VisitScotland and VisitWales.