British Destinations

Destination Business Improvement Districts Update

Posted on July 6, 2016 Updated on July 6, 2016

I am sure you will wish to join with me congratulate colleagues at Torbay Council and The English Riviera Tourism Company and within the tourism industry in Torbay on the news of their recent successful English Riviera Tourism BID which was passed by a healthy margin on 1 July 2016 .  Observers of the growth of Destination BIDs (DBID) will know that regrettably the earlier broader based Torbay Retail and Tourism BID failed by a narrow margin last November.  Spurred on by the disappointment among the tourism industry a new tourism business focused proposal was quickly launched.  Tenacity and good sense have thankfully now prevailed.

Next in line is the Isle of Wight DBID the vote for which closes on 12 July 2016.   A really interesting broad area based proposal, this one has the ability to be transformation for the destination and destinations within it but also a potential transformation model for other larger mixed areas based destinations that may have been struggling with the business model or business case to go down a wider area DBID route.  Clearly as an Island the Isle of Wight has some unique advantages and unique challenges that stand it slightly apart from otherwise similar part rural, part urban destinations within a larger destination area. Regardless some really important lessons can be learnt, shared and critically built upon from the Isle of Wight approach, especially once, local businesses willing, it has been adopted.

It is to be hoped that businesses in the Isle of Wight will now be mindful of what their peers and competitors are doing to maintain and grow tourism elsewhere in the UK; in particular what is being done in places like Torbay and that as a consequence they will vote yes to their own DBID.

In light of the recent Torbay yes vote and other developments the background briefing note on Business Improvement Districts & Tourism on britishdestinations.net has now been updated:  https://britishdestinations.net/business-improvement-districts-and-tourism/