Tourism — Debate

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 2:59 pm on 22 January 2009.

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Photo of Lord Bradshaw Lord Bradshaw Spokesperson for Transport 2:59, 22 January 2009

My Lords, other noble Lords have underlined the fact that tourism is a substantial earner. It is a creator of real jobs. We might contrast that with the fact that many of the real jobs in, for example, the City of London have been founded not on producing goods and services that people want but on what I would call fool's gold—money-making financial instruments that, in my view, have little real value to people.

Will the Minister tell us what other industry stands at such a threshold of opportunity as the tourism industry at present? We hear doom and gloom on all sides, but is tourism anything but an opportunity waiting to be seized? As we see our money poured into the coffers of banks all around, we are aghast at the small amount of support given to capitalising on the opportunities that many noble Lords have described. Obviously, the industry needs better organisation, but it does not need bureaucratic organisation. The various bodies could put into practice what we have heard about if they were given a little more money.

The industry is very diverse. We heard from the noble Lord, Lord Inglewood, about certain aspects and from my noble friend Lord Glasgow about others. I draw attention to the National Trust. I have the 2009 members' handbook. Those seeking to create jobs for young people might look very closely at two things to which I have contributed lately, as I imagine other noble Lords have: the appeals made by the National Trust for Tyntesfield and Croome Park. Those are two enormously important historic buildings. Croome Park is a house and estate of unrivalled significance, with the grounds landscaped by Capability Brown. The National Trust is taking on people to learn the craft of repairing and keeping together historic houses and estates. That is work for the future. It could take on many more young people, who could learn a very useful trade.

If the House permits me, I shall go back to the days when I was general manager of western region at Swindon, where we had a large training workshop for fitters and electricians. Swindon works was going to close but I pleaded with the Government to keep the training facility open so that we could continue to take on apprentices and train them as fitters and electricians. That plea fell on the deaf ears of the people to my left, now the Official Opposition. They insisted on closing the facility and, of course, not long afterwards we were desperately short of fitters and electricians. I say to the noble Lord, Lord Carter, that we should take this opportunity to train the people who will provide the tourist amenities that people want.

I endorse what my noble friend Lord Greaves said about tourist centres. This time last year, I was in New Zealand. I stopped in a fairly remote place, in the middle of a volcanic area, where there was a magnificent visitors' centre which was attracting huge numbers of people. It was beautifully put together and explained how volcanoes work. I do not suppose that it was ludicrously expensive, but, in the heart of a tourist region, it focused your attention on what there was to see and, of course, where you could spend your money.

We obviously need well organised packages. The industry is capable of doing that. For example, the Swiss have a travel pass, with which the Minister is familiar and which, I imagine, most people have bought when in Switzerland. You get a little red card and you can go on every bus, every train and every ferry. The Swiss market it magnificently, but we do not have a similar product in this country. I do not ask the Government to do that, because in Switzerland it is not done by the Government, but they could bring together people who could contribute to or market such a card.

There is inertia in our tourism market. There are many things to be done, but probably very few people doing the most important things because they are all extremely busy, as the noble Lord, Lord Inglewood, said, doing their own thing. They are not there to sell Britain abroad; they are there to run their hotels, their country houses or whatever in the most efficient way. That is all we can expect.

I am, to some extent, critical of some of the big hotel groups. For nearly 10 years, since coming to your Lordships' House, I have stayed in a hotel run by the Thistle group, one of the biggest groups. However, last time I stayed there, it had taken the bottled water out of the bedrooms. I am paying a substantial sum of money—not peanuts—to stay there, but there must be two separate people, one who decides to take the bottled water out of the hotel bedroom and another who decides to print on your receipt, "Committed to service". These people do not live in the same world; one wonders whether accountants run the business and not people with a feel for tourism, a feel for visitors and a feel for the attractiveness of the country.

I make one other plea. One of the worst features of this country is the state of public lavatories. I do not want to harp on this, because the matter was raised in your Lordships' House last week, but it is very difficult to find a public lavatory and often they are not clean. They are a disgrace to the country. Thirty or 40 years ago we used to make fun of the French and Italians because they did not have them. A little while ago, when I went to Paris, the facilities—if that is the right description—at Gare Saint-Lazare were pristine, clean and modern. That is something one rarely sees here. I do not think that the Minister is the Minister for public lavatories, but I wish that he would bring the matter to the attention of those whose responsibility it is.