CONTENTS NEWS


4 TOP STORIES 7 NEWS IN BRIEF


4


‘Politicians pay our industry lip service’; London attractions hit by costs; Salisbury tourism recovery fund


Trade bodies create UKHospitality; VisitBritain joins Chinese Visitor Working Group; ‘Three years of certainty’ thanks to Brexit deal; VisitBritain teams with DMCs; Mayors unite to inspire visits from China, India and Gulf; Tourism bosses lobby on visas; Royal couple visit Belfast


NEWS IN DEPTH 8 SPECIAL REPORT


10 FACE TO FACE 12COMMENT 20


Reasons to be cheerful EDITOR’S


NOTE B


Samantha Mayling reports from the British Tourism & Travel Show at Birmingham’s NEC


Wendy Hartley-Scarff talks about her new role as the chief executive of the Association of Group Travel Organisers


In the first of his quarterly columns for TravelGBI, new tourism minister Michael Ellis looks at how a thriving tourism industry boosts UK plc


IN FOCUS 14 IRELAND


roadcasting legend Angela Rippon shared a heartening fact at the British Tourism &


Travel Show. She has presented the BBC’s Rip Off Britain since 2009, and the programme regularly features gripes from disgruntled holidaymakers. However, the show has never received any complaints about coach holidays. “So, you must be doing something right,” she told delegates. There was plenty of other positivity at BTTS


– the Tourism Question Time panel heard how tourism is the country’s fifth biggest industry and third largest employer, contributing billions to UK plc.


And the sector is recovering from last year’s


terror attacks in London and Manchester, which hit school trips in particular. Operators are developing more innovative experiences to cater for rising numbers of staycationers and inbound tourists – and browsing BTTS’s exhibitor stands gave me a flavour of the great variety available. From the Terracotta Army in Liverpool to the


There’s a buzz about Belfast tourism, thanks to ‘blockbuster’ attractions such as Titanic Belfast and Game of Thrones


20COACH TRAVEL


The Coach Tourism Association unveiled its new chair and debated industry issues during the annual Coach Holiday Conference in Blackpool


24NORTH EAST ENGLAND


The Great Exhibition of the North in NewcastleGateshead will showcase northern creativity and attract 1.5 million visitors this summer


IN THE SPOTLIGHT 27SPOTLIGHT


27


Editor | Samantha Mayling | editorial@travelgbi.com Editor-in-chief | Lucy Huxley | lucy.huxley@travelweekly.co.uk Account Manager | Sam Chapman | sam.chapman@travelweekly.co.uk Managing Director | Stuart Parish | stuart.parish@travelweekly.co.uk Editorial | editorial@travelgbi.com Subscriptions | travelgbi@subscriptionhelpline.co.uk Sales | 020 7881 4838 | sales@travelgbi.com


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Shrek to trek across UK and Ireland. The musical has added extra dates and the production will be on its 24-venue tour until January 2019


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floral delights of the RHS and Kew, Southport’s ‘pick ‘n’ mix and ‘The Real Yorkshire Experience’ at Skipton’s Rendezvous Hotel, the choices are diverse, inventive and plentiful. There’s plenty happening elsewhere –


Belfast stars in our Ireland feature as it’s a hotspot for 2018, and the Great Exhibition of the North is the highlight of our North East England feature, with an array of activities in NewcastleGateshead this summer. Talking of BTTS, several of you asked me at the show about the new editor of TravelGBI. I didn’t know it then, but now I can reveal...it is me. Having written about the travel trade for


22 years, I am delighted to be taking on this role full-time and reporting on this varied and vibrant sector.


LAST WORD


Win a family ticket for a day out at Cadbury World


Samantha Mayling Editor @travelgbi


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