Thoughts from ITT

Last week I spent a most enjoyable time in Venice – nice, I hear you say! And it is true that one of the benefits of working in the travel sector is that we visit some wonderful places. This time it was with The Institute of Travel and Tourism and we were treated to some interesting and challenging presentations from politicians, business leaders and heads of NGOs. We were also beautifully entertained by the region of Veneto and the Hilton Molino Stucky that hosted the conference, although the weather could have been better!

A week later I have had time to reflect on the conference and thought I would distil what I learnt from the various speakers.  A theme emerged for me around the importance of taking things ‘slowly’, planning for the long term and differentiating between what you can and can’t do and then focusing.

Lord Adonis spoke passionately about the challenges the UK faces in progressing its transport infrastructure and in particular about how essential it is for a transport minister to be in place for longer than a year. He referred to the short term nature of our planning in contrast to our continental neighbours who take a 10-20 year look at their transport needs.

Sir Terry Leahy gave us his nine rules for successful management: find the truth; set audacious goals; have clear vision, values and culture; set targets for the whole business; people, processes and systems matter; data is priceless; competition is good and that leadership is crucial at all levels. But he was also clear that successful companies apply these principles over a period of time and take their stakeholders with them in understanding this.

Even the Venetians believe in taking things slowly and have launched a new concept called slow tourism, encouraging us to ponder, reflect and savour the delights of their area.

Other take-outs were: Trip Advisor: its raison d’etre is the consumer not the hospitality industry and that the consumer expects you to have a two-way conversation! Ex-Welsh rugby union star Gareth Davies focused on the importance of “in every honour there is responsibility”.  Simon Vincent from Hilton gave us a thorough look at the hospitality industry which, he said operates in a seventeen year cycle and that we are in an up-cycle with the middle classes ready to travel again!

And the most important message to come out of ITT was the importance of PR and SMEs to the future of UK tourism with Visit Britain saying that PR was a key driver of Britain’s image and that despite the big brands that dominate our outbound travel, our domestic tourism is driven by the private sector. As a consultancy with real strength in helping many UK operators such as www.Pitchup.com and destination partnerships like www.visitwinchester.co.uk, this was indeed music to our ears!