Lockdown casts doubt on tourism services’ futures
The future is unclear for Bath Visitor Information Centre and its staff, as a merger is proposed between Visit Bath and Destination Bristol.
The visitor centre in Terrace Walk, Bath, has not yet reopened after the coronavirus lockdown forced its closure in March.
Visit Bath, which reported a loss of £126,000 in 2018/19, has been further affected by Bath’s £470 million hole in its income as the pandemic has taken its toll on tourism.
We asked Visit Bath to respond to anonymous claims that Bath Visitor Information Centre has been permanently closed, and that staff have been laid off potentially without redundancy pay due to Visit Bath’s debts.
Interim CEO Kathryn Davis said the centre was temporarily shut because it was not “economically viable” to reopen at present and that discussions were ongoing with staff, but that they would be paid if it came to that.
She said: “Like all visitor and tourist information centres, Bath Visitor Information Centre closed at the end of March as a result of the coronavirus pandemic that has devastated the tourism industry worldwide.
“The centre remains closed as the need to maintain social distancing to keep staff and customers safe, has meant that it is not currently economically viable to open.
“Discussions are ongoing with the staff, but should we find ourselves in a situation where redundancy payments would need to be paid, then they will be.”
Ms Davis added that despite slashed income, Visit Bath has been active during lockdown.
“As a membership organisation, Visit Bath’s work is supported by the investment of their member subscriptions,” she said. “With the effective close down of the industry in March, all asks of membership subscriptions were immediately ceased as it would’ve been highly inappropriate to contact businesses for these subscriptions at this time.
“Subscriptions will restart this month, and we’ll be contacting members in due course. Fees are being reduced to 75 percent of standard annual rate to further support businesses with recovery.
“During the period of lockdown, there was a huge amount of work undertaken to lobby nationally for industry support and guidance, including regular contact with Visit Britain, DCMS and other destinations.
“Visit Bath switched to a ‘Virtual Bath’ campaign, which sought to maintain interest and share information to visitors of the future, along with participation in virtual trade shows, creating new routes to market.”
The tourism and leisure sector has been one of the hardest hit by Covid-19. Across the Bath and Bristol area this sector employs 45,000 people (eight percent of the workforce) and contributes almost £2.5 billion to the economy.
In response to this unprecedented crisis, the boards of Destination Bristol and Visit Bath are proposing a new Destination Management Organisation (DMO) which will “provide better value for money and greater efficiency of operation.” They say the merged organisation will actively maintain the distinctive local consumer brands Visit Bath and Visit Bristol, and the programmes and services that underpin these brands.
Support will include both travel trade and consumer marketing, a convention bureau, business support and development, they say.
The new organisation will be a significant industry presence creating new routes to market and putting the sub-region in a much stronger position to access new additional funding to support businesses in the sector, they claim.
The boards say it is of “crucial importance” to them to work closely with local government to develop an appropriate public/private sector partnership focused on maximising the visitor economy. This would include working closely with the Bristol City, Bath and North East Somerset, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset Councils.
John Hirst, chief executive of Destination Bristol, said: “The hospitality and tourism sector was the first to be hit by lockdown and will be the last to recover. We need to do everything we can to support businesses by making sure that we have a stronger presence.