Tourism & visitor information services budgets research

Key FindingsOctober 2010

The Tourism Company (London)

155 High Street

Teddington

Middlesex

TW11 8HH

United Kingdom

Tel: (+44) 20 7642 5111

london@thetourismcompany.com

The Tourism Company (Herefordshire)

15 The Southend

Ledbury

Herefordshire

HR8 2EY

United KingdomTel: (+44) 1531 635451ledbury@thetourismcompany.com

Background

• Online survey amongst tourism budget holders within local authorities, destination management organisations (DMOs) etc

• Fieldwork conducted during August 2010

• 153 responses ( 51% response rate)

• Commissioned by The Tourism Company, with the assistance of Visit England

Research aims

• To see what effect expected cuts in tourism budgets

are likely to have on; – local tourism delivery plans

– tourist/visitor information services

• To understand at what stage organisations are in the tourism budget review process

• To identify how the budget review process is being undertaken

The outlook for tourism budgets

• 75% of respondents are predicting cuts to their tourism budgets over the next two years

– Approaching a fifth (18%) expect no change

– Less than 1 in 10 (7%) expect an increase

Increase, 7% No change, 18%

Decrease, 75%

The outlook for tourism budgets

• Cuts of 40% or more are expected by 1 in 10 respondents (10%)

– Cuts of 20% or more are expected by a total of over 4 in 10 respondents (44%)

25%

31%

34%

10%

Increase/ Nochange

0-20% cut

20-40% cut

More than 40%

Where the cuts might fall

• Front-line tourism services appear most vulnerable to cuts

– Advertising is the most likely area to be cut (40% certain or very likely to cut)

– Cuts in TIC services are certain or very likely for over a third (37%) facing a budget decrease

– Reductions in tourism staffing are being actively considered by almost 1 in 5 of those facing a cut in budgets (19%)

19%

19%

22%

29%

32%

37%

40%Paid adverts

TICs

Exhibitions

Printed brochures andleaflets

Research

Tourism staff

Product development

Mot likely to be cut

% certain/very likely to cutBase = respondents expecting a decrease in budget

Where the cuts might fall (cont.)

• Engagement with tourism businesses appears relatively safe

– Only 8% are certain/very likely to see cuts in this area.

• Spending on IT projects seems well protected

– Only 12% were certain/very likely to cut Tourism ICT / Destination Management Platforms, whilst just 7% are certain/very likely to cut work on websites

7%

8%

12%

12%

15%

16%

17%Staff training

Policy and Strategy

Data collection

PR

Tourism ICT/DestinationManagement Platforms

Business engagement

Website

Least likely to be cut

% certain/very likely to cutBase = respondents expecting a decrease in budget

Impact of budget cuts on TICs

• Approaching 1 in 5 (18%) of those expecting tourism budget cuts are planning to close of one or more TIC

– Over one third (38%) are planning reductions in opening hours at TICs

– 3 in 10 (30%) are contemplating a reduction in TIC staff

– Over a quarter (27%) are planning to amalgamate TICs with other council services

21%

16%

17%

18%

27%

30%

38%Reduction in opening hours

Reduction in staff numbers

Amalgamation with other council services

Closure of 1 or more TIC

Seasonal closure

Outsoourcing delivery

Other

Base = those who indicated that their overall tourism budget was likely to fall

What stage are respondents at in the budget review process?

• Plans for budget cutting are at a fairly advanced stage for well over half (61%) of respondents

– Nearly 4 in 10 (39%) have already been asked to identify savings

– Around a fifth (22%) say that cuts/savings are actively being discussed

39%

22%

20%

10%

9%

Have already been asked to identify savings/cuts

Savings/cuts to the tourism department arebeing actively discussed

No cuts as yet but feel they are on the way

Other

Unclear at present