36
Big Interview
TAKING ON
THE CHALLENGE
Martin Fullard speaks to Joss Croft, the new CEO at travel trade
association UKinbound, about tourists, tax, and Brexit
Kinbound’s primary focus is
the wider tourism industry as
a whole, but as we know,
leisure and business tourism
are both intrinsically linked. In order to
remain competitive, both branches of
the industry need to work together.
With uncertain times ahead, the best
way the UK can keep its rivals in check
is to offer visitors the best experience
possible. Joss Croft certainly has a lot
on his plate. As if Brexit wasn’t enough,
the spectre of tourism taxes in
Scotland provides another hurdle to
overcome. Croft is a tall, imposing
figure, and certainly seems like the
right man for the job. I sit down with
him at UKinbound’s annual convention
in Glasgow.
How is the mood among your
members?
Generally, the mood is good. We’ve just
published the results of our business
barometer, which we do every quarter,
and we’ve seen confidence grow from a
record low of 40% to a much healthier
60%.
We’re seeing some markets perform
very well, notably the US market [for
inbound tourism to the UK], we have a
strong economy, and no elections are
planned this year – which can impact.
The US market is, for some regions, the
most important market, particularly in
Scotland. It’s the most important in
terms of spend and third most
important in terms of numbers.
The long-haul market in general is
positive, mainly the US and China,
because Brexit doesn’t matter, not just
the impact, but because a lot of people
from those destinations don’t even
know about it.
Bookings are holding up at the
moment, but there remains concern for
the European market post 29-March.
Is the face of the tourism industry as
we know it about to undergo a huge
change?
Tourism taxation, such as the one
currently being discussed in Edinburgh,
will bring about a fundamental change
because it’s not how the industry
operates at the moment. The UK is
already one of the most heavily tourist
taxed destinations in the world, only
Denmark has a higher rate of VAT on
accommodation than the UK within the
EU. But even in Denmark tourists don’t
suffer the air duty that UK tourists do.
Any type of taxation will be bad news
in many ways. It makes us less
competitive; potential visitors have
choices on where they go so we can’t
rest on our laurels. We could price
ourselves out, not to mention the
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burden it would place on the existing
infrastructure.
We would like to encourage the
Scottish government not to proceed
with this. However, it does at least
provide us an opportunity to have input
on how the money raised is spent.
A level playing field would have to be
ensured as certain parts of the
accommodation sector, the so-called
sharing economy, don’t have to register
or comply with health and safety, so
they wouldn’t be paying the tax, and
would undermine registered providers.
That will put us at a disadvantage,
surely?
We’ve already seen from World Travel &
Tourim Council’s (WTTC)
competitiveness study and the UK is
135th out of 136 on price
competitiveness. Thank goodness
we’re still such an attractive destination
to the rest of the world. Record
numbers are coming, and we have a
superb brand. But yes, it’s going to be
tough for a while.
What does the UK do well: where are
our strengths and what brings people
here?
A lot of visitors to the UK come for the
heritage and culture: no one does
heritage and culture quite like us. On