Yorkshire ‘must up its game’ to win new visitors

Christopher Rodrigues, chairman of the national tourism agency Visit Britain, said the region must learn to “package destinations better” to cater for visitors from increasingly wealthy countries such as China and Brazil.

He also called on rail operators such as East Coast to offer more attractive rates to foreign visitors, who are often unable to book cheaper advance tickets, and so are faced with exorbitant ticket prices when considering whether to travel further afield than London on their trip.

Mr Rodrigues, who also chairs the Leeds-based credit firm International Personal Finance, was speaking yesterday at the launch of Visit Britain’s new post-2012 tourism strategy, with the agency aiming to increase overseas visitors to the UK by nearly a third to 40 million a year by 2020.

The strategy sets the tourism industry, which already employs 2.6 million people, the task of creating a further 200,000 jobs by the end of the decade.

Currently, the vast majority of foreign tourists never venture beyond London – and Mr Rodrigues made clear there is work to be done if destinations such as Yorkshire are to reap the rewards.

“We’ve got to package these destinations better,” he said. “You can’t expect a 22-year-old Chinese trainee travel agent to “package up” Yorkshire – they’re still learning where it is!

“We’ve got to have the courage to put packages together, and the packages have to cover everything.

“It’s no good saying ‘here’s a nice house’, or ‘here’s a nice hotel’ – if you’re going to get the Chinese or Japanese or whoever to come, and they don’t know their way around.

“We’ve got to say ‘here’s five days in Yorkshire’, and look at the totality of the experience.”

While Britain’s tourism industry remains heavily reliant on the US and western Europe for most of its visitors, tourists from the so-called BRIC countries – Brazil, India, Russia and China – are increasing rapidly.

Mr Rodrigues said regional destinations needed to work harder to cater for these new markets.

“If we are going to make a push for China, you have to deal with the fact that some of them, in addition to trying fish and chips, you have to have the ability the cook the noodles in the room,” he said.

“That’s not being simplistic – they have to feel welcome.

“You need Chinese interpreters and tours guides. They will go to where people serve them. And it’s not just picking on the Chinese – the Brazilians give you exactly the same message.”

Just as important in getting visitors beyond London, he said, was finding a way to make rail fares from the capital more affordable.

“Outside of London, destinations have got to sit down with the rail operators and we have got to package, and make easy access for, visitors to get rail rates that are attractive,” he said.

“If you turn up at King’s Cross at 9am with a family of four to go to York, you don’t get much change from £1,000 if you want to go in first class.

“If you’re British you can go on an advanced booking. But there isn’t an easy product (for foreign visitors). I’d really love train operators to create a simple product for foreigners.”

With Visit Britain unveiling a new £2m partnership with Dubai-based airline Emirates to promote Britain overseas yesterday, Mr Rodrigues said improving air links to regional airports such as Leeds Bradford was also key.

Speaking at the launch, Culture Secretary Maria Miller insisted that despite funding cuts, tourism remained “central” to the Government’s growth strategy.

“It’s worth £115bn to our economy a year,” she said. “We need to retain a competitive edge and can compete with other destinations around the world.”