Ripsaw Posted August 7, 2006 Share Posted August 7, 2006 The buzz word in Tourism is (and has been for a while) 'diversification'. The Tourism Strategy recognises that we (the Island) are lacking in a lot of areas and uses a lot of pretty bullets points to list these with action points for the years ahead. One plus side in the stategy is that the author recognises that Tourism is important to the economy and the environment of the Isle of Man and remains a significant economic growth opportunity. It also makes a vital contribution to the quality of life of residents. The document goes on to say There is now an active market segment across the British Isles that values the unspoilt natural environment and different pace of life that the island offers. There is a growing demand for quality domestic short breaks across the whole year that help people to unwind and re-charge. The island is well positioned to capitalise on these trendsOne worrying factor that is recorded is Growth trends in European tourism markets tend to focus more on adults as couples and individuals than on families. The family market is still important but it is no longer the vital sector for tourism. Moreover, outside a small luxury/five star serviced sector of very limited potential for most Islands, the family market tends to seek budget priced mainly self-serviced products. Villas, cottages, apartments and high standard camping sites which cater for families will continue to attract the family market - provided that the appeal, the price, range of facilities offered and value for money are competitive with other destinations.As somebody who takes an interest in the local facilities for families and the younger generation I worry that the Department are happy to focus on supporting and encouraging the walkers, golfers, etc. (all of which are welcome) that they won't give enough of their limited time and energy to investigating and ultimately providing the facilities that also support, entertain and stimulate us residents and our families. There is a well know European holiday company that markets itself at B & C1 social groups... couples, families and even the 'Conferences' market. It prides itself on its entertainment and relaxation short breaks. This company prides itself (publicly at least) on being in touch with nature and proudly boasts about the positive impact that it has both for the local enviroment ...committed to not only conserving the environment, but also enhancing it. In particular the company strives to create habitats that encourage the indigenous flora and fauna. It is generally accepted by ecologists and conservationists alike that Villages form a richer, more attractive and better balanced ecological environment than existed before the company took over a site... The author of the Tourism Strategy proclaims that The Isle of Man needs to recognise the changing behaviour of tourists and the increasing sophistication of the market as people travel more frequently and much further afield than ever before. The more hectic the lifestyle the more expectations tourists have. As a tourist we are now looking for a memorable experience, a sense of place, and we demand more in terms of quality and value for money. In order to remain competitive the Isle of Man needs to be more focused on the customer and our ability to satisfy their needs will be crucial if we are to be successful. The Stategy also has a sectin about SWOTs... Strengths, Weaknesses, Oppotunities and Threats. The 'Strengths' section highlights our enviroment, relaxing nature, heritage and the festivals, etc. The 'Oppotunities' section highlights how we (the Island) can/should develop the growing markets relating to our enviroment, relaxing nature, heritage and the festivals, etc. The 'Weaknesses' and 'Threats' sections each highlight as many downsides to the Island as the other two positive sections list jointly, and these are the areas that require addressing whereas the first two sections are basicly lists of 'naturaly occuring' benefits with a couple of man created pluses thrown in for good measure. Sadly the negatives lists appears to paint a grim picture, but if you take a moment to think "Hang on a minute" then it becomes obvious that most of them are basic quality of life instances that most sane resident would wish to see Government strive for in every day life, and a couple that are claimed to affect us negatively should in fact be used to our advantage. Back in Manx.net Land I stated that 'IOM Government are reactive rather that Proactive in much of their decision making' and I still hold that belief now, although I've done a lot more reading and research since those early days in my forum membership life and things do seem to be picking up slightly although they still have inherent problems in advertising the fact in a way that doesn't bring out the cynical side in the public. Weaknesses and Threats (Edited from both sections): Lack of quality bed stock Quality uncertainties and lack of consistency for accommodation especially - "will it be all right/what can we expect?" Still too many below par accommodation in Edwardian buildings offering 1970s standards One problem faced by guest house and B&B owners over the past few decades was the downturn in tourist numbers. No matter how good your intentions, if the money isn't coming in you are going to be weary about investment in updating your facilities unless you have enough backing to redevelop and relaunch. During the past few years we've seen the effect of this drop in demand and underinvestment... nearly every building on Douglas Prom between the Central and Queens has gone from Tourism to Residential usage. How long left for Paramount City? This scene can also be witnessed in the other towns around the Island. The Stategy aknowleges that more Guest Houses and B&Bs will close, simple as... "The market expects and demands high quality finish and high quality service" to paraphrase. Anything that is less than 3 Star rated and modern... wave goodbye. Tourism Grants (when they are not being abused - alledgedy) exist to help those who do have finances or backing to modernise and update, so some help is available to some as long as they have the means to kickstart the work. The hotels planned for the former Lord Street Bus Station and the land across the road? Can not come quick enough for the Tourism Department and the benefit in the redevelopment of the entire Douglas Harbour area is recognised. Not a bad thing? It will certainly liven up the areas and focus the development into one area, although that itself raises the problem of increased traffic in that area, (which is also subject to another strategy at the moment) and it lessens the impact of future planning applications further along the prom for more "Seafront" residential developments. Rural landscape at risk (litter etc) Increase in anti-social behaviour Increased burden of complying with additional regulations may have a negative impact on tourism businesses and event organisers Imposition of additional regulations on the industry Growth of low cost flights from UK regional airports to European destinations Cost to reach the island by air - No current access to budget airlines No suitable marina to cater for high spending yachting market Lack of tourism signage and street furniture which, if actually in place, is generally unattractive Lack of tourism criteria and no organised planning programme or controls for sustainable development, co-ordinated between IoM Govt and local councils Appearance of some urban areas that most leisure visitors use; uncared for, scruffy, downmarket appearance (Bognor Regis/Morecambe style), eroded townscapes and 1960s architectural/planning horrors Most of the above reflect inaction by national Government, inaction by local Government, an inabilility or unwilliness for both layers to work together and bring forward actions. The Marina in Douglas is undergoing extension and it has proved that there is a demand for such a comodity, for various reasons other towns haven't been so quick to join in and find a way to take advantage of the available income and redevelopment. Cost of travel is always going to be a problem. As the market moves more towards business travel and short breaks the percentage of the entire cost is going to swing more to the traveling 'to and from' aspect than the actual cost of 'staying'. Many years ago I was told by my employers that 'our company was more expensive than competing businesses, but we had the best training for staff, our products were available and reliable and we would receive the best support available to ensure that we had extensive knowledge about the product for our and the customer's benefit. If we upheld our part of the business then the customer would rather pay a bit more than tollerate the alternative". Being wet behind the ears I was a bit sceptical, but having been there and now I am on the 'customer' side of business for my current company I can see entirely where that thought process was coming from. What value do you receive from a product or service if it isn't available, if it breaks down or if you only receive 10% of it's design ability? This philosophy also applies to our Island. If the streets are dirty, if the amenities are lacking or liable to fall apart, then it doesn't matter how cheap the experience is, nobody is going to thank us for supplying them. I would love to see low cost flights and ferries to and from the Island and travel costs have to come down one way or another for both for tourism sake and for the benefit of us. I tried, but was unsucessful, to find out the largest size of plane that could land and take off fully laden at Ronaldsway and how much bigger the runways would have to be to accomodate the next size of plane up. The runways are being extended at a sizable cost to us taxpayers to create longer run off safety zones, not to increase the size of traffic. I would have thought that while the work was being planned the initiate to lengthen the runways, attract larger planes and encourage lower cost per seat prices should be considered. If it turned out that a plane with an extra 20 seats would require a 50% longer strip of tarmac then of course it would not be financially viable, but I wasn't able to generate that piece of information. Then again to fill the planes requires an increase in demand to travel to and from here or a reduction in the number of current flights (eg. 5 flights per day to Liverpool cutting to 3, etc.) It's a bit of a chicken and egg situation... If visitors are arriving and we want them to return then we don't want them spending the day breathing in the fresh air then unable to find their way around or being accosted by drunken teenagers roaming the streets and smashing their WKD bottles or damaging parked cars. Come to think of it, I live here and I don't want to see those things either. Government is in the position to address and rectify some of all of these points to one degree or another. Most of them are quality of Life aspects which we are told often enough that we are high on the list of. There is no room for complacency by anyone who is in an elected position or who is in a postion where they are trusted to work for the public's benefit. The long holiday summer family market for UK products will not disappear but is in long term decline Mediocre service standards are a concern Lack of out of season events and activities No core anchor visitor attraction Not in the bullet points, but mentioned in the document: "Younger people on the Isle of Man tend not to leave the Island but stay and work in the primary sectors and there is a growing reliance on part-time or seasonal staff with limited training opportunities". I saved these bullet points for my penultimate part as being a father, a webmaster and involved in voluntery work relating to children they are the points that I relate too most from a personal perspective. If I could make one quick change in the Department of Tourism and Leisure it would be to add the word 'Community' to the name. Tourism, Leisure and Community (Dept of TLC for short). The things that affect Tourism on the Island also affect Leisure and also affect the Community. Tourism and Leisure provides and/or supports the activities that involve us as residents and as a community as well as the visitors who pop over for a few days. When Tourism and Leisure decided to build the NSC they provided a sports facility for the Island, a facility that would host competitions with other Islands and jurestrictions, events for local schools and groups and a facility that gave the youth and adults of the Island a place to meet with friends to partake in sports and to develop. It fufils the concept of Tourism, Leisure and Community. Way back near the beginning of this post I refered to a 'European holiday company', a business that not only meets most of the Strategy's positive action point aims, but chews them up and spits them out... and yes it does cater for the family market that the strategy doesn't appear to hold in high esteem as a future growth area. The company builds and operates a small number of villages and according to it's literature, each village employs approximately 1400 staff, operates 365 days a year and attracts over 300,000 guests during that period. The injection of income into the local area during the construction of a Village is around £40million. This provides enormous economic benefits to the contractors, suppliers and other local businesses who participate in the contract. The wide range of employment and career opportunities offered are significant. Approximately 80% of full-time positions are classified as skilled and managerial. purchases a significant proportion of its supplies and services from local producers and suppliers, which represent a financial injection of £7million into the community. The major economic impact is generated when the Village is in operation. 1400 jobs are created, the majority of which are local, and which inject approx. £11million per annum in salaries directly into the local economy. Whilst the majority of guests tend to stay within the village, a proportion of their time is spent visiting facilities and attractions within the locality. Many other local services and tourism destinations also benefit. It is estimated that guests inject a further £2.5million in local tourism income. I can also add the following facts: They were about to sign a 21 year lease on a seafront property in Jersey on the Waterfront Development and invest £55m in it's furnishings. I haven't seen the reason why, but the company pulled out and apparently Jersey sobbed. In June 2005 ...submitted a planning application for a fifth holiday village, in Bedfordshire, which is expected to cost £160m. Following a study of more than 40-forested sites and six months of public consultation, the holiday village operator made an outline planning application to Mid Beds District Council on 27 June, for a 365-acre site at Warren Wood near Woburn. The proposed complex will follow the design of the four existing villages, which on average have 800 villas and welcome a total of more than 1.3m guests a year. It will feature a range of indoor and outdoor leisure facilities, a variety of restaurants, a subtropical swimming paradise and an Aqua Sana spa. The result of the application was announced a month ago and it was refused permission. The prefered site was Green Belt, so even with their reputation they were going to struggle gaining permission. Undetered they are again searching for a suitable location to spend their £160m. Now I can not have been the only Manx resident to have heard about the refusal so I scanned the skies looking for the Government's private helicopter buzzing overhead as I was sure a proactive Manx Government always on the lookout for an oppotunity would have thought Bedfordshire's loss, our gain. I imagined the helicopter carrying the company's CEO on a tour of the Island with the instruction to 'pick a spot yessir', with extra interest being gained from the added benefits of relocating their head office over here... Back to reality. Irrespective of the name of the company (not difficult to guess) they proved that they have no qualms about investing on an Island, they are actively searching for a location for their fifth village and the Isle of Man Tourism Department wish to address The long holiday summer family market for UK products will not disappear but is in long term decline Lack of out of season events and activities No core anchor visitor attraction They charge a premium price for their product and they are not beyond critisism, they operate 365 days per year and their average occupancy each year runs at 90%. It is recognised in business that sometimes it is worth bending backwards to attract top brands for the knock on benefits that they bring. We wouldn't need to bend at all, we already have the tax benefits for new investment, and for every person that I know who is happy in the finance sector or flipping burgers, there is another who would love to move to the service industry. Even if the particular company wasn't interested in this fair Isle, or their prefered plans would overawe the Island, they wouldn't be wishing to expand if there wasn't a market for their product... A product that the Isle of Man could very easily copy and adapt to the local enviroment, even if it had to be implemented and developed over a couple of years. One major downside of the Island for developing tourism is once visitors set foot on land whether via sea or air is the transport network. I mentioned above in regard to Douglas Quayside that there is a Traffic and Transport Stategy being reviewed (again) In that strategy they are looking at an Intergrated Transport Scheme. For the sake of 2 miles extra track I believe that Government could justify buying a couple of (read 4 or 5) modern commuter trains. One and a quarter miles to create an Airport loop and the other three quarters of a mile to pass the Sea Terminal and head for Douglas Prom. No offence to the buses or taxis, but... And finally... What was the thread about again? Ah yes... Current organisation of Tourism Division need restructuring The future Minister has to be a person who can comprehend, formaulate and put in to place the mechanisms required that the Strategy has highlighted and described. Agreeing with it would be a bonus too. They should also be a person who isn't afraid to think big and if necessary moderate the thought as opposed to thinking small and being satisfied as if a job well done. Will DC resume the post in the new Government? Maybe. Will he be the best person to carry out the Strategy? Well, my fingers are starting to numb, so I'll leave that answer to others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ringwraith Posted August 7, 2006 Share Posted August 7, 2006 You have made some fair points there Ripsaw. I assume you are talking about Center Parcs but one thing the IOM lacks is forests (although perhaps one of the plantations could be expanded / adapted) so maybe they would not be interested to come here, but you are right in saying that we wont know until somebody asks them. I'm not sure about your train idea, how much have you looked into it? Would tracks need to be upgraded, what would the running costs be compared to income. Another point maybe worth considering if the tracks etc don't need too much upgrading instead of all the hassle and expense of laying extra track what about free transfer service by bus or coach from the airport to say ballasalla station, maybe a pilot scheme with a more modern type of train could be run first to test the water on the idea and if sucessful then invest more cash to fully upgrade the service and then extend to other areas. You have mentioned some of your ideas on here before but have you ever picked up the phone or written to anyone in government? You could also contact Center Parcs yourself you know there is nothing to stop you getting involved. It sometimes takes outside involvement to get things moving but rather than just posting on the net and letting someone else take credit for your ideas (not that you would necessarily be worried about that) why not get in direct contact with the people that can make the decisions. Last year Pinewood Studios (James Bond etc) issued a profits warning and talked about an uncertain future due to lack of clarity on future UK tax breaks, this was not that long after the shutdown of Ronaldsway shoe factory. I contacted the relevant IOM government dept and said why not send your top person in the film dept over to see someone from Pinewood Studios and tell them all about the IOM tax breaks, I also mentioned the huge vacant site at the AIRPORT and suggested maybe that could somehow be used for film making, guess what I received to my idea - not even an acknowledgement, let alone a thanks or no thanks, or yeah not bad idea we will pass it on and let you know what happens. I will still pass on any ideas that I have in the future though whether they get listened to or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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