 Members’ Weekly Update |
| In this update…16th February 2023 New Tourism Alliance Groups – get involved in policy development and implementation ETAs update Share your business barometers and other data with us Tourism Alliance AGM DMO Panel now confirmed for Tourism Insights Conference Download the new TA logo for your website and materials New Tourism Alliance Groups – get involved in policy development and implementation The benefit of being an umbrella association is that our members have huge expertise, knowledge and experience in their own areas. The Alliance is here to harness that, provide forums for collaboration, and take policy forward on behalf of a unified tourism sector. We also know from discussions with members that they would like opportunities to be more involved in policy development work from the beginning, especially those organisations who are not represented on the Board. In order to help with all of that the Tourism Alliance Board has approved the creation of a number of new Policy Working Groups. Where policy has already been established by the Alliance, these groups will coordinate actions on pressing for the outcomes we seek. Where it is an emerging issue, the group will be involved in working up a policy for adoption by the Board. Further groups will be rolled out in the fullness of time, but for now we are creating six groups on the following issues: Youth and Student Travel Youth Mobility Scheme Package Travel Regulations Visas and ETAs Short-term lets and registration Home Office use of tourism accommodation (emerging issue) Membership of these groups is open to full and associate members of the Tourism Alliance only. If you would like to put forward yourself or a colleague from your member association to be part of these Policy Working Groups, or for more information, please let me know via Richard.Toomer@tourismalliance.com Additionally, we will be creating a number of Member Forum Groups which will be less focussed on individual policy agendas, and more on proving forums for members associations with similar issues, such as Social Tourism, and Sustainable Tourism, to come together and discuss policy. More information on these will follow in future updates. ETAs update We attended a useful update from the Home Office FBIS (Future Borders and Immigration System) team with regard to the ETA roll out which is due later this year. ETAs will be required by all non-visa nationals coming to the UK, and will be similar to the US ESTA scheme that most are familiar with. Some points to note: Implementation of the ETA scheme is still scheduled for Q4 2023 despite concern from industry and others that we are still very unclear on many of the details. Engagement with the sector will start to be rolled out ‘soon’. The team are currently awaiting the laying of the rules and ministerial instructions on cost. We reiterated to the engagement team that companies, especially tour operators, are desperate for info and we’re running very short of time. On being asked, the FBIS team believe there will be no increase in processing time at the UK border. There will be no biometric checks, only scanning of the passport as is currently the case. Concerns around seaports and rail stations in particualr were raised, but they’re confident ETAs will help, rather than hinder, queues. The EU are also rolling out an analogous system, ETIAS. The roll out is also scheduled for later this year – 1 November. Although there is no link between the two systems, we may see them rolled out concurrently. More on ETIAS in a future update soon. Share your business barometers and other data with us In advance of our Insights Conference (see below) it would be extremely helpful if you could share any data you have recently collected, such as business barometer data. For our engagement work it would be good to get a sense of how the industry is looking now as we head towards the spring and summer. This is tricky to put together given that each association does things slightly differently, but anything can you provide to give us a sense of how business is looking in your sector or local area would be very gratefully received. Data can be treated as confidentially as needed, and does not have to be raw data, but can be consolidated or even analysis you have undertaken. Please get in touch to discuss further. Tourism Alliance AGM A date for your diaries. The Tourism Alliance AGM will take place between 1100-1200 on Wednesday 7 June 2023. Please pop a note in your diaries. We would like this meeting to be in person, so if anybody has a space they could offer to host around 40-50 people please do let me know via Richard.Toomer@tourismalliance.com More info on the AGM, as well as the process for nominations to the TA Board, will follow in due course. DMO Panel now confirmed for Tourism Insights Conference  We can now confirm an additional panel of speakers for our Tourism Insights Conference which will be held on Thursday 23rd March 2023. Nick, Hayley, Asa, and Kathryn will be giving us insights into their destinations, and talk about what they’re seeing on the ground, and the data and stats to back that up. As a reminder, as well as this panel, the following speakers are also confirmed: Justin Reid from TripAdvisor will be speaking on the topic of “UK Tourism – is it ok to peek out from behind the Covid sofa yet?” David Edwards from ETOA and Scattered Clouds will talk on “OK-UK? A long-haul journey through time: past, present and future.” And Richard Nicholls from VisitBritain will discuss “Domestic and Inbound Performance and Prospects” and will in particular talk about GBTS and GBDVS data Book now to secure your place. All TA members, and all organisations within your membership, are welcome to join us at the member rate and all delegates are welcome to join us afterwards at our annual English Tourism Week Parliamentary Reception, 3pm-5pm in the Terrace Pavilion, House of Commons. Sponsorship opportunities are also available for TA members and non-members, both for the conference and the Parliamentary Reception. Book your ticket now Download sponsorship pack Download the new TA logo for your website and materials  If you would like to download the new TA logo pack for you to add to your website, membership material, letterheads, slide decks etc, can you now do so. Access the full pack of different logos via this link. |
