Tourists – who needs ’em?

If recent decisions taken by both Wiltshire Council and Marlborough Town Council are any guide, maybe neither organisation is too keen on getting visitors into their respective areas. Or more precisely partnering with organisations that can reach out nationally and internationally to promote the areas to potential visitors.

Wiltshire Council have taken decision to cut the funding and support to ‘Visit Wiltshire’, and Marlborough Town Council have decided to stop supporting and funding the ‘Great West Way’ initiative, an ongoing promotion dedicated to encouraging visitors to take the road west out of London (towards Bristol) and visit and enjoy all the stopping points of interest on the way.

Marlborough Town Council took the decision to stop contributing to ‘Great West Way’ recently, which will take effect on 1 April(!) even though it still features on the Town Council website. This may change come 1 April.

Of course Marlborough is on the ‘Great West Way’ – probably best known under another name – the ‘A4’. Short of Merlin scooping up the town in its entirety and dumping it somewhere altogether different it’s always going to be on the ‘Great West Way’, but promotion to the national/international travel industry as part of this initiative will stop.

David Andrews, Director of the Great West Way commented that the Great West Way was more than just the A4: “The Great West Way is one of the world’s premier touring routes, a multi-modal route that visitors can travel by rail, by bike, on foot, on the water and by road”

He added:  “Unfortunately, in pulling out of the Great West Way initiatve, Marlborough as a visitor destination will no longer be on the Great West Way.  Marlborough will be taken off Great West Way maps, itineraries, and as you do say, will no longer appear in national/international consumer, travel trade or PR promotional activity.” He noted that Marlborough would be less visible particularly to the international tourist market. “One impact is that Great West Way Official Tour Operators are already taking Marlborough as a destination out of their itineraries and programmes for both independent and group travellers for travel in 2024 and 2025.   You can expect to see significantly fewer visitors from the US and other key international markets in Marlborough this year as a result.”

Wiltshire Council have decided to stop their funding and support for ‘Visit Wiltshire’, the organisation dedicated to encouraging tourists to explore our county. OK, they will be saving £150,000 over two years – £75k pa – and every saving possible at this point where all funding is under great scrutiny and pressure for every Local Authority, there are clear reasons behind this decision.

But, and a big but, this cuts out the opportunity for ‘Visit Wiltshire’ to get support from Central Government sources (Visit England / Visit Britain) as financial support from the Local Authority is a prerequisite to gain from this area. Such a cut means that the county can’t meet the criteria for being a part of the Government’s new national Public/Private sector funded structure of ‘Local Visitor Economy Partnerships’ (LVEPs), which – cutting the jargon – means that the county won’t be promoted by ‘Visit Britain’ or ‘Visit England’ and so when tour organisers add Stonehenge to an itinerary, there won’t be the extra push to go ‘via Marlborough’ or include Avebury, or even Salisbury or one of the many other beautiful Wiltshire places that tourists would be drawn to if there were encouragement.

So Wiltshire will likely be losing far more than that which will cease from Wiltshire Council, and this inevitably will translate – in time – to lower visitor numbers and place greater pressure on the estimated £50m that comes into the county each year from visitors – from this country and beyond. A ‘Visit England’ model estimates that the County currently earns about £5m from the domestic tourism market, but this estimate could be increased tenfold if the international tourist market were included as well.

Less promotion, likely less tourists, less spend in the area. It’s the cafes, restaurants, tourist locations, general tourist retail etc. that will feel the pinch. Probably not much to start with, but increasingly more as years go by. Both in Wiltshire overall, but also in Marlborough as well as the ‘Great West Way’ initiative has developed this whole extensive London to Bristol corridor into somewhere for visitors to explore.

“Marlborough is the only town we’ve ever had pull out of the ‘Great West Way’ programme” commented Director, David Andrews when asked how this could affect the town and it’s efforts to bring in more visitors. In the six years since launch it has already become well established on the travel industry ‘map’.

How much will the Town Council save by getting out of the ‘Great West Way’ programme (maybe £1,500-2,000 p.a.), and what will be the cost of less direct/indirect tourist revenue? The latter – impossible to say, but the fewer tourists that visit Marlborough, the less trade that shops, pubs, restaurants and particularly cafes and coffee shops will do. Difficult to put a figure on it but likely more than what the Town Council will be saving.

So, ‘Tourists – who needs ’em?’. We all do, but is it better to promote independently, or as part of an existing organisation, with widespread presence? Both Wiltshire Council and Marlborough Town Council believe they have the answer to that question, an answer that is reflected in their recent decisions.