The Brighton & Hove Tourism Plan

So that’s it then. After years of political wrangling, hand wringing and soul searching, the UK has finally left the European Union. Whichever side of the debate you were on the true benefits (or cost) won’t be apparent for a long time to come yet. Not least thanks for the 11-month period we have just begun in which the UK will negotiate its future trading relationship with the bloc.

But let’s forget about the rest of the country for a moment and do some proper naval gazing - what does it all mean for Brighton & Hove?

Possibly one of the more obvious areas to be impacted by whatever decisions are made in Whitehall is the Tourism sector. With over 11m visitors a year, (1.5m of which are overnight stays) the businesses involved in welcoming, accommodating and feeding all those people may well feel a pinch (or in some cases, more of a punch) given that many of them rely heavily on labour from the European Union to service their offer. Thankfully, work to deliver the city’s Tourism Strategy has begun with the creation of a Destination Management Plan which, amongst other things, will look at skills delivery and recruitment within the sector by matching up business need with education providers in the city and wider city region.

The plan is currently being written and won’t be published for a few months, but other areas of focus are around product development, the look and feel of the city, the visitor experience, the city brand, strategic marketing as well as future funding for the sector.

That last one is particularly interesting because last year, as part of the Tourism Sector Deal the Government announced running a pilot to create something called ‘Tourism Zones’, a means by which areas will be able to bid for cash to support their tourism sector (although it’s still quite vague at the moment just how much hard cash is available). What is clear though is that somewhere as small as Brighton & Hove won’t get a look-in without buy-in from our regional allies, both along the coastal strip and towards London. Whether we are big enough (even with our regional partners) to command a response from the corridors of power in Whitehall remains to be seen, but without cross-county bonhomie, we’ll never know.

By forming stronger bonds with our neighbours, we can really begin to build robust arguments for major, infrastructural investment whilst also exploiting our myriad success stories to introduce visitors to the hidden gems and glorious experiences which can be found when you stumble off the beaten track.

Given the Government’s vocal commitment to spending plans for the north of the country (which were a threat even before the collapse of the Red Wall) as a region, we need to be louder, more committed and even clearer on what the benefits of continued investment will deliver in the South East. The Coast to Capital LEP’s Local Industrial Strategy points out that partly due to the huge amounts of innovation in the region, any investment in the South East offers a much larger bang for your buck than it might do elsewhere; providing a crucible for disruption and allowing our successes to be shared across the rest of the UK.

The good news is that the playing field is well and truly open, regional partners are committed and the South East has such a wealth of natural and built assets that we should be able to articulate a very positive story. From the economic powerhouses of Crawley, Gatwick and Brighton & Hove through the cultural pull of Glyndebourne, the Brighton Festivals and Goodwood and on to the exciting burgeoning world of viticulture and agri-tourism we’ve an embarrassment of riches… we just need to make sure that we don’t accidentally sell the family jewels by navel gazing too closely but work collaboratively to secure a brighter future for an industry which so desperately needs our support.

Gavin Stewart is CEO of Brighton Business Improvement District and Executive Director at the Brighton & Hove Economic Partnership.

If you want to contribute to the Chamber blog, contact us on hannah@brightonchamber.co.uk