This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Unity said to be key to tourism success
02/12/2002
The challenge to establish the Scottish tourism industry
as an important growth sector in the economy can only be
achieved by all parties working together with a strong
common purpose, Tourism, Culture and Sport Minister Mike
Watson said today.
Mr Watson added that signs of post-2001 recovery are
positive, but longer-term improvement for Scotland's
biggest industry is the responsibility of all players, both
public and private sector.
Addressing the Scotland United conference in Crieff, Mr
Watson also said that product quality and employee skills
and training were two key strategic priorities requiring
significant extra effort.
The Minister said:
"In my first year as a Cabinet Minister for Tourism, I
have stressed at every opportunity that tourism is
Scotland's biggest business sector, that its economic
performance matters greatly to the largest cities and the
remotest communities - in short, tourism is everyone's
business.
"The events of 2001 were clearly damaging, but
statistics suggest signs of a good recovery in parts of the
industry. However, the longer-term picture has shown a
downward trend since the mid-90's against the growth of
tourism internationally. So the challenge facing us all in
Scotland is clear - we need to reverse the long-term
decline and re-establish tourism as a growth sector in the
Scottish economy.
"This cannot be done by any one tourism player. It will
require a sense of common purpose within Scotland's tourism
industry. We must take a 'one-team' approach to building a
Scottish tourism industry that is internationally
competitive. There is no room for diverse agendas.
"There has tended to be a dependency culture in Scottish
tourism. The public sector invests some £80 million a year
into the sector. The private sector must now show more
leadership. I am not in any way suggesting a decrease in
public spending, but what I am signalling is a desire to
focus the investment on building on success, on what we do
well, rather than to shore up parts of the sector that may
be performing less well than they could do."
The Minister said there are five strands to Scotland's
tourism strategy, and that good progress is being made on
three - structure of tourism funding and support;
marketing; and e-tourism. He stressed, however, that the
two other key strategic priorities - product quality and
employee skills and training - require a lot more
effort.
He said:
"Scotland must aspire to the very highest standards of
quality. There remain too many instances of visitors to
Scotland being disappointed by the inconsistent quality of
their experience.
"I recognise the real value of the VisitScotland Quality
Assurance (QA) scheme, whose members represent 80 per cent
of accommodation providers across Scotland. I have asked
VisitScotland to consider how that percentage can be
raised.
"It is a salutary fact that around 80 per cent of
complaints received from tourists about the quality of
their accommodation come from people who have stayed in the
20 per cent of accommodation not in the QA scheme. We must
address that.
"Doing so may require the eventual introduction of some
form of compulsory registration for tourism establishments,
to more actively regulate quality standards. This would
drive home the message that achieving high standards of
quality must be a key priority for all those involved in
achieving the success of Scottish tourism.
"Our other key priority is to improve skills and
training at all levels throughout the sector. It is clear
that the skills and attitudes of those who work in tourism,
at every level, is central to the overall quality of the
experience provided to our guests.
"A lot of good work is going on in this area, including
the Modern Apprenticeship Scheme. In Scotland, 80 per cent
of youngsters going in for an engineering Modern
Apprenticeship complete their training. The average across
all sectors is 50 per cent. But the average for tourism is
20 per cent. That is appalling. There may be many reasons
for this low figure, but it is simply not acceptable.
"I have asked VisitScotland to consider what can be done
to change this, to change the image of tourism in Scotland,
to change the way in which tourism careers are presented to
youngsters at school, to change the way in which tourism
business come across to potential recruits, and to change
the way in which small businesses regard training.
"Scotland has huge natural advantages, and tourism icons
which other countries would kill for. If we get the support
structures right, if we co-ordinate our marketing efforts
properly, if we fully utilise e-commerce, we will do well.
And if we have skilled and well trained staff offering
visitors a high quality experience wherever they go in this
country, then we will become the must-visit destination
that we aspire to be, exceeding our visitors' expectations.
I for one am determined that we shall."