Letwin outlines Tory plans

London again today - a Trade Association Forum "CEOs event", with Guest Oliver Letwin, the Conservatives' head of policy development. He started by saying "the best-kept secret in British politics is that we have a plan" - then outlined many of those plans. Interesting to hear, as they may (who knows?) be elected on May 6th. Some new and fairly radical ideas about the burden of regulation. We will keep Association members informed...
Mr Letwin is my own MP and I have bent his ear many times before about tourism and small business policy, regulations & enforcement, etc. Perhaps some of the message has got through..?

Breakfast with the Shadow Tourism Minister

Up (very) early today to get the 05:21 to Waterloo, for an 08:30 Tourism Alliance breakfast meeting with Tobias Ellwood, shadow tourism minister.
A very useful and positive meeting, I thought. The Tories have promised a dedicated tourism minister if they win on May 6th, and Tobias reiterated their commitments to support tourism - including reforming Air passenger Duty, seeking cross-party consensus on Daylight Saving, and funding marketing to counteract the potential negative effects of the Olympics.
I outlined a couple of the "regulatory burden" points on the agenda (copyright licensing and fire regulations), and there was a useful discussion about the shortfalls of the "impact assessments" carried out before new regulations are brought in.
When listing the various examples of "regulatory burdens" on B&Bs in advance of the meeting, even I was amazed (again) at what we have to struggle with. The biggest message to the prospective minister was: "no more!".

End of Term at the House of Commons

To the House of Commons last night for a reception for the start of British Tourism Week. In her speech the Minister, Margaret Hodge, said how much she values tourism, vowed to keep fighting the Treasury on visa charges and APD and hailed Labour’s “free museums” policy as a success achieved. Her Tory shadow, Tobias Ellwood, promised that the Tories would create a ‘real’ tourism minister dedicated only to tourism (rather than following the ‘and’ in Mrs Hodge’s title), repeated George Osborne's objective to raise the proportion UK residents spend on domestic tourism from 38% to 50%, and promised to take action on ‘daylight saving’ (double Summer time) and other key issues the industry have been pressing on. I spoke to both individually afterwards. Both seemed especially eager to listen – possibly with May 6th in mind? A very “end of term” atmosphere at Westminster – another MP, about to retire, told me of his sadness at some of the “changes”. Quite a few useful and interesting conversations, not just with MPs but with other tourism industry colleagues - and I made the most of the canapés as I had missed lunch. I didn’t need dinner afterwards either – very economical!

Radio 4 'You and Yours': PRS

I was interviewed today on Radio 4's 'You and Yours' about PRS (Performing Rights Society) and their aggressive call centre tactics and double charging of music licences for both B&B rooms & corridors, AND breakfast rooms & lounges. The interview has already let to a flurry of emails from members and other owners - all so far supportive of our stance. The word "aggressive" comes up time and again - as well as "why?" - why do we need to pay at all? This subject gets people fired up! Posted lots of detail on our member-only pages. Watch this space!

Here Goes...!

My first "B&B Blog" - I have been reluctant so far because there hasn't seemed to be time for blogging as well as everything else. But it is a good way of communicating, so let's try. Anything that helps inform B&B and Guest House owners, and helps them with their businesses, has to be worth it. This £2 billion+ cottage industry has to fight constant new burdens of red tape, the "budget hotels" dumping rooms (and dump is the word) at £19 a night, and of course an economy in severe recession. Luckily, as the editor of the Good Hotel Guide said, B&Bs offer the "best value" - and of course the "best breakfasts". Let's shout that from the rooftops...