Saturday, May 17, 2008
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BURY HATCHET FOR SAKE OF TOURISM

By County Press Reporter - Friday, May 9, 2008
GOVERNMENTminister Jonathan Shaw talks exclusively to CP editor Alan Marriott.

THE Island’s tourism industry will only flourish if the IW Council and the chamber of commerce bury the hatchet and start to co-operate, a government minister has warned.
Jonathan Shaw, government minister for the South East, told me it was vital the two bodies started talking to one another if the Island was to prosper in the sector. Mr Shaw, who told me he was a great fan of the Island, having visited for several years as a member of the Boys’ Brigade, believed the region had the potential for growth in tourism, particularly in the short-breaks market.
“We need a co-ordinated approach to tourism and both these bodies should be involved,” he said.
The Government Office for the South East’s main priorities were sustainable development, skills training and housing, and he felt all of these had ramifications for the Island.
He praised the Eco-Island vision, on which he was briefed at the new carnival centre by the IW Council’s chief executive Joe Duckworth and leader Cllr David Pugh.
The ability of councils to squeeze best value out of public funding, such as the PFI roads cash won by the IW, was another issue for regional ministers, said Mr Shaw.
After travelling to the Island on the Wightlink Fast Cat, where he discussed issues with Andrew Willson, Wightlink chief executive, he visited the new IW Council-run carnival centre, at Westridge, spoke to Young Chamber members at Carisbrooke High School and took a tour of Pan.

COUNCIL OFFERS OLIVE BRANCH AFTER DOWNTURN PREDICTIONS
AN olive branch has been offered to the IW Chamber of Commerce, which last week predicted a massive £50m fall in this year’s tourism trade.
An urgent meeting to call a truce to the spat which saw the chamber publicly blame the IW Council for the downturn in tourism was resolved when both parties agreed to work together for the good of the Island.
Council chief executive Joe Duckworth said: “We both agree we have a shared responsibility for giving support and leadership to the Island and in boosting business confidence.”
The chamber’s chief executive Kevin Smith, added: “We will work together in the future for the benefit of the IW. Our working relationship with the council starts now. We will not bury our heads in the sand. If there is a problem we must work together to work out how to resolve it.”
This week the council denied claims the tourism industry was suffering because it had done little to promote the Island and said the situation had been misrepresented.
Council chiefs said they were working and spending hard to promote the Island with 60,000 more copies of its tourist guide distributed on this time last year, improvements to public facilities and a huge online and print advertising campaign.
Mr Duckworth said the comments had dented the Island’s reputation and he was particularly disappointed the story had broken in a week when Countryfile was filming on the Island, national papers had featured positive IW stories and it had won a silver award in the Enjoy England Awards in the Best Day Out category.
He said: “It’s far too early to be making these sorts of dire predictions but we do recognise attractions are saying their takings are down. While we should be concerned. we’ve got to keep spirits up. We need to encourage investment in our hotels and attractions. Business confidence is fundamental. To suggest the council is not committed to promoting the Island is just not true.”
He said other destinations had a similarly slow start to the season but that draft topline statistics for the first quarter of the year revealed a nine per cent rise in the average number of weekly visitors on last year.