Tourism

Lead Administration – Guernsey

Since its establishment, the British-Irish Council took forward work in the area of Tourism due to the importance of the industry to all Member Administrations. It was agreed that Guernsey would take responsibility for advancing work in this area at the second British-Irish Summit Council meeting in November 2001.

The Council exchanged information and best practice in terms of employment, revenue, culture and heritage aspects of tourism for each Member Administration. Tourism was the central focus of the sixth BIC Summit, which took place in Guernsey in November 2004. Click here to view the Communiqué issued following the Summit meeting on Tourism.

Staff training and recruitment plays an important role in the development of the tourist industry in all Member Administrations, and this was a focus of much of the work of the Council. Member Administrations agreed to endorse the BIC tourism training courses in Customer Care and Upselling, which were piloted in Guernsey in 2005. These programmes are currently available to all Administrations through the appointed consultants with programmes customised to meet individual needs. In addition, to encourage mutual recognition of certificates or diplomas, the Council agreed to exchange information on courses delivered by training organisations throughout the BIC region.

Administrations undertook work on “Tourism Satellite Accounting” (TSA), with the objective of measuring the value of all tourism related activities to the economy of British-Irish Council Members. This was the focus of a conference held in London in November 2004 Work was also undertaken in a number of key areas including crisis management in the tourist industry and the influence of the growing Chinese tourist market on the future development of tourism policies within Member Administrations.

At the Council Summit held in Scotland on the 28 September 2008, the Council agreed that the BIC tourism work sector had arrived at its natural end and this view has been reflected in the Council Update of the Strategic Review. The Council recognised the usefulness of the contacts made in the tourism field since its adoption into the Council’s work programme in 2001.