TOURISM Food tourism the key for Grimsby


Fish producers in Grimsby have called on the local council and property owners to renovate the area around the region’s famed smoke houses to stop the town from missing out on the chance of becoming a destination for food tourism. Producers in the region believe the town is


missing out on millions of pounds, given that Grimsby smoked fish was handed a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status by the European Commission back in 2009. Local workers and businesses believe


Where have all the day visitors gone?


KURT JANSON is policy director of Tourism Alliance


PGI products are thought to generate annual sales of £1bn


it would be beneficial for the council and dock owners to invest in developing the area to house visitor attractions, shops, restaurants and hotels to boost the local economy. “Traditional smoked fish is in such demand


now by top chefs because these days it is used to add flavour to a whole range of seafood dishes,” said Richard Enderby, chair of the Grimsby Traditional Fish Smokers Group. “Grimsby has always been a destination for


the real foodie but perhaps not your Hyacinth Bouquets’ looking for something to impress their guests at a swanky dinner party.” He said the derelict buildings flanking


Grimsby’s traditional smokehouses “could be utilised to showcase the 150-year-old process of fish smoking in Grimsby, either by moving


parts of the process to the empty buildings to make room for viewing areas or to use the empty buildings as shops or restaurants featur- ing smoked fish and other seafood.” North East Lincolnshire Council has stated


that it is keen to support local food tourism, with Labour councillor Mick Burnett saying he was happy to talk with local producers about the promotion of the area, revealing that the council wants the “maximum amount of tour- ism in the borough of North East Lincolnshire”. More than 40 food and drink products have


been given a PGI status, with the UK Protected Food Names Association stating that PGI prod- ucts generate annual sales of around £1bn. Details: http://lei.sr?a=R6x5Q


Solid growth seen in Irish tourist numbers


The I r ish Tour is t Indust r y Confederation’s (ITIC) review of 2013 reveals that visitor arrivals were up 6 per cent to nearly seven million, the best year since 2009. A big contributor to the figures was


Te Gathering and its year-long pro- gramme of events, which – with a 26 per cent increase in transatlantic air services – attracted more than one million visi- tors from the US, a record. Visits from the UK showed an increase


for the first time in several years, to 2.9 million, while 2.5 million people came from mainland Europe and a further 400,000 from elsewhere. Te increased numbers meant that tour-


Tourism Ireland is targeting growth of 4 per cent in 2014 Elsewhere, Te Wild Atlantic Way, a major


ism businesses were able to create 15,000 additional jobs over the past two years, while earnings from those visitors were up 13 per cent to €3.3bn (£2.7bn) – tourists were seen to be spending more and staying longer. ITIC says that Irish government moves to


maintain the 9 per cent VAT rate on tourism services and the suspension of the Air Travel Tax were welcome measures which were help- ing to restore the country’s competitiveness.


© CYBERTREK 2014


new touring route along the western seaboard first proposed by ITIC in its 2011 report New Directions for Tourism in Te West, has been launched by Fáilte Ireland. Looking ahead, Tourism Ireland is target-


ing growth of 4 per cent in visitor arrivals in 2014, a figure which ITIC believes may prove to be conservative if Ireland can continue to capture an increasing share of leisure traffic from the improving economies in most main source markets. Details: http://lei.sr?a=b2G2s


Twitter: @leisureopps


T


he final results from the three major 2013 tourism surveys (inbound visitors, domestic tour- ists and day visitors) are starting


to filter through the system. And the results are uneven to say the least. For inbound visitors, the results up to the


end of November are exceptional. Te UK has received 5 per cent more overseas visi- tors who have spent 12 per cent more. Tis equates to an additional £2.2bn in export earnings for the UK economy – enough to create over 40,000 new jobs. On the domestic side, the number of trips


through to the beginning of October was the same at last year, while expenditure was marginally up at 1 per cent. While this is disappointing considering the very good weather over the summer period and the expected rebound from people being glued to their TV watching the Olympics last year, this static growth has to be viewed in the context of 2013 being the fiſth year in a row that inflation exceeded wage increases. Te real problem, however, comes when


we look at day visitor numbers and expendi- ture. Day visitor expenditure makes up over 40 per cent of all tourism-related expendi- ture and is therefore very important to the overall health of the industry. At the start of 2013, the theory was that while decreasing dis- cretionary expenditure would put pressure on overnight domestic tourism expenditure, people would compensate by taking more day visits as this removes the major costs of accommodation and evening meals. However, this seems not to be the case.


As of the end of November, day visitor numbers were down 15 per cent (that’s 238m less visits) while expenditure was down by 12 per cent (£6.1bn). Once the December figures are available next month, day visi- tor expenditure for 2013 could be down by almost £7bn over 2012. Tis is a consid- erable decrease – the equivalent of losing more than 120,000 jobs. What makes matters worse is that there


is no solid explanation for such a dramatic fall in day visitor numbers and expendi- ture. It’s a conundrum which needs to be resolved urgently.


Read Leisure Opportunities online: www.leisureopportunities.co.uk/digital 11


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