Christopher Rodrigues - Chairman VisitBritain - is due to speak at the 3rd World Tourism Conference in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.
Nice !
Beats Birmingham - wonder how long he stayed at the British Travel Tradefair - can't remember seeing him speak there.
Friday, 25 May 2007
Wednesday, 23 May 2007
Saatchi appointed by VisitBritain
VisitBritain has appointed Saatchi , those well-known advertising types, to re-brand VisitBritain by the time of the Olympic Games in London.
But as usual in the VisitBritain rollercoaster of a ride, it is for "international marketing activity"
So guess what - that probably means VisitEngland is left out the cold again - the re-branding paid for by cuts in staff.
Does VisitBritain no longer take its responsibilities under VisitEngland seriously - its about time for a change - all this is past a joke for the development of english tourism. It;s all about image and more website's now.
No doubt all those new websites will be redone - at some cost - to reflect the new image that Saatch comes up with.
Wouldn't it have been a good idea to get the "image" and "branding" done first before the websites were developed ?
But as usual in the VisitBritain rollercoaster of a ride, it is for "international marketing activity"
So guess what - that probably means VisitEngland is left out the cold again - the re-branding paid for by cuts in staff.
Does VisitBritain no longer take its responsibilities under VisitEngland seriously - its about time for a change - all this is past a joke for the development of english tourism. It;s all about image and more website's now.
No doubt all those new websites will be redone - at some cost - to reflect the new image that Saatch comes up with.
Wouldn't it have been a good idea to get the "image" and "branding" done first before the websites were developed ?
Monday, 14 May 2007
VisitBritain staff cuts
VisitBritain cut 80 jobs - 35 overseas and 45 in the uk
Some of these cuts are fairly drastic and included Claire Hancer, who has just got a SHINE award as Public Sector Woman of The Year in the travel industry. Claire worked on Visit England campaign so I guess its another blow to to Visit England at the expense of Visit Britains focus on ensuring all those nice overseas offices take less cuts.
Some of the cuts are in print - which shows that VisitBritain continues to focus on its websites.
In my view thats wrong as brochures can be handled, given to friends and family and browsed more easily. You can't do this with a web page.
My opinion is that VisitBritain is more interested in its traditional role of attracting visitors from overseas that getting UK residents to holiday in the UK.
This used to be the remit of the English Tourist Board which later became the remit of the English Tourism Council before everything was absorbed into VisitBritain.
Some of these cuts are fairly drastic and included Claire Hancer, who has just got a SHINE award as Public Sector Woman of The Year in the travel industry. Claire worked on Visit England campaign so I guess its another blow to to Visit England at the expense of Visit Britains focus on ensuring all those nice overseas offices take less cuts.
Some of the cuts are in print - which shows that VisitBritain continues to focus on its websites.
In my view thats wrong as brochures can be handled, given to friends and family and browsed more easily. You can't do this with a web page.
My opinion is that VisitBritain is more interested in its traditional role of attracting visitors from overseas that getting UK residents to holiday in the UK.
This used to be the remit of the English Tourist Board which later became the remit of the English Tourism Council before everything was absorbed into VisitBritain.
Friday, 4 May 2007
VisitBritain launches visitbritain.us
VisitBritain launched a new website (yes another one !) www.vistbritain.us which is supposed to be one of a number of specific country targeted websites.
It appears to be rather similar to visitbritain.com - but just think of the money spent on it and the fun they had .
It also appears to be trying to sell things - so instead of VisitBritain promoting Britain as a destination ( and their brief extends to getting UK residents to holiday in Britain as well ) they are trying to sell as well.
But hold on - are they are using public funds for commercial ventures ? - and in areas that are already covered by commercial companies ? . So are they in effect receiving a public subsidy for commercial activities? Better tell the EU
Not a great site - menu system is confusing and try entering Barnstaple ( in Devon) as a destination what you get is Barnstaple and New Barnstaple.
Where on earth is New Barnstaple ? - lets click the map - it appears to be in the middle in the ocean somewhere off the coast of Africa - good one guys - I guess you should code to take out zero degrees latitude and zero degress longitude.
It appears to be rather similar to visitbritain.com - but just think of the money spent on it and the fun they had .
It also appears to be trying to sell things - so instead of VisitBritain promoting Britain as a destination ( and their brief extends to getting UK residents to holiday in Britain as well ) they are trying to sell as well.
But hold on - are they are using public funds for commercial ventures ? - and in areas that are already covered by commercial companies ? . So are they in effect receiving a public subsidy for commercial activities? Better tell the EU
Not a great site - menu system is confusing and try entering Barnstaple ( in Devon) as a destination what you get is Barnstaple and New Barnstaple.
Where on earth is New Barnstaple ? - lets click the map - it appears to be in the middle in the ocean somewhere off the coast of Africa - good one guys - I guess you should code to take out zero degrees latitude and zero degress longitude.
Wednesday, 2 May 2007
When is a Hotel Not A Hotel Part 2
Um when it is actually a Guest House or Bed and Breakfast !
My definition of a hotel is one that has someone on reception all the time, has a restaurant that has more than one choice of meal, a bar area and a lounge.
However there are plenty of establishments around, especially in London, that call themselves hotels but don't meet this definition.
These are sometimes described as "bed & breakfast hotels", or are classified on the Internet as a hotel when in fact they are not - more of that at a later`date.
There is a move by tourist boards to stop this by insisting that members that use the word "hotel" actually have hotel facilities - however they only have policy control over the owners that register with them.
As there is no compulsory hotel registration scheme in the UK, owners of "hotels" who are not members of official tourist boards can call themselves whatever they want !
My definition of a hotel is one that has someone on reception all the time, has a restaurant that has more than one choice of meal, a bar area and a lounge.
However there are plenty of establishments around, especially in London, that call themselves hotels but don't meet this definition.
These are sometimes described as "bed & breakfast hotels", or are classified on the Internet as a hotel when in fact they are not - more of that at a later`date.
There is a move by tourist boards to stop this by insisting that members that use the word "hotel" actually have hotel facilities - however they only have policy control over the owners that register with them.
As there is no compulsory hotel registration scheme in the UK, owners of "hotels" who are not members of official tourist boards can call themselves whatever they want !
Tuesday, 1 May 2007
When is a hotel not a hotel ? Part 1
A hotel in England may be a Private Hotel.
The distinction is that in a private hotel you are a guest of the owner so if you turn up and he doesn't like the look of you he can say "You can't stay here"
A normal hotel has to give you a room - as long as you can pay for it !
There are still some small private hotels around - mainly in large seaside resorts and cities.
Part 2 ? coming soon...
The distinction is that in a private hotel you are a guest of the owner so if you turn up and he doesn't like the look of you he can say "You can't stay here"
A normal hotel has to give you a room - as long as you can pay for it !
There are still some small private hotels around - mainly in large seaside resorts and cities.
Part 2 ? coming soon...
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