Face-to-Face: Helen Grant MP and Sandie Dawe
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Travel Daily chats with the UK’s Minister for Sport and Tourism, Helen Grant, and VisitBritain’s CEO, Sandie Dawe, about the country’s efforts to attract Asian visitors…
Q) The UK’s tourism revenues from Asian markets increased significantly in 2013. Is this something you expected?
HG: The focus is always on visitor numbers and spend; the two go in tandem. We want people to come and we want them to enjoy their holiday. It’s very nice that people are spending more but it doesn’t surprise me because there are a lot of things that you can spend your money on in the UK.
SD: You’ve got some high spending markets [in Asia] and people who are above average affluence and tend to spend more on shopping. But we have that balance; some of the emerging Asia Pacific markets are quite London focused, while markets nearer to home… bring benefits to other parts of the country. Ideally we want that optimum mix of visitors.
Q) Will this trend continue?
HG: There’s certainly no room for any complacency, but no-one is complacent. I genuinely believe we have a fantastic offering, and our GREAT campaign which the government has put more money into (funding recently increased by 50%)… has really captured the imagination of many overseas countries.
SD: In terms of our strategy, it’s all come good. A number of Olympic host cities have found it didn’t work for them. The image research we did after the Games did showed that Britain’s image around the world was enhanced, particularly in terms of friendliness and natural beauty, which were our weakest areas.
Last year our visitor spend exceeded expectations, at plus 13 percent. I think it would be quite hard [to continue that level of growth] but we are forecasting this year to be better than last, and another record. And some of this is being fuelling by growth from these [Asian] markets.
Q) Is the UK actively seeking high-end Asian visitors?
SD: It tends to be higher end, in that people who are attracted to Britain are better educated and more affluent than the average of their country. If you can afford to travel that distance, you tend to be above average affluence. So we’re already in that space.
Q) Which Asian markets are your main areas of focus?
SD: Our priority markets are the Gulf states, India, China, Japan and Australia. Then on the next rung are South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore. We keep the market portfolio under review in terms of where our intervention would best bear fruit. We are currently looking at the balance between South Korea and Japan, as South Korea is performing better. We try to remain agile in terms of strategy.
Q) What is the UK doing to ease the visa applications process for Asian visitors?
HG: We constantly look at the situation with visas, and as Minister for Sports & Tourism I’m always looking to see what we can do and what changes we can make. But of course this can’t be at a cost to national security.
The Chancellor on his recent visit to China made a number of announcements about the streamlining and simplifying of visa processes, and I think that was very good indeed. There are a lot of initiatives happening that I think will help the process. There is movement, things are happening, and I think the changes we have made have been welcomed.
SD: There’s a pilot scheme underway in China whereby you can apply for your UK and Schengen visa simultaneously. I think this is helping tour operators organising multi-country tours. That’s the kind of thing that’s being looked at.
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