Rural Select Committee and Destination BID updates.
1. Both the Tourism Alliance and ourselves were invited to provide further written comment to the EFR Select Committee on three questions which, due to time constraints, were not put to us during the oral evidence session in mid-December. The comments submitted by 13 January have now been added to the Britishdestinations.net page dedicated to this inquiry (last item on the page): https://britishdestinations.net/consultation-responses/open-consultations/select-committee-inquiry-on-rural-tourism-written-evidence-closed-6-September-2016/
2. The Isle of Wight Destination BID approved in July 2016 went live this January (congratulations to all concerned). The narrative within Business Improvement Districts & Tourism page on Britishdestinations.net has now been updated to reflect a number of other recent changes. Among a number of additions to the page are the links to the Wight BID business plan and suite of other useful Wight BID documents (see para 3 for these): https://britishdestinations.net/business-improvement-districts-and-tourism/
3. Meanwhile the outcome of the English Riviera Tourism BID appeal is still keenly awaited. Also approved in July 16 this BID was subsequently called in on the grounds of what we (I) feel was a fatuous objection. Let’s hope the Secretary of State agrees and that he does so as soon as possible. Further unnecessary delay of this excellent major initiative isn’t in anyone’s interests within the Torbay area or indeed nationally as it simply creates more reasons for other destinations to be (needlessly?) cautious about exploring the Destination BID avenue.
British Destinations 