Tourism

Lead Administration – Guernsey

The British-Irish Council is bringing work forward in the area of Tourism due to the importance of the industry to all Administrations. The Council exchanges information and best practice in terms of employment, revenue, culture and heritage aspects of the subject.

It was agreed that Guernsey would take responsibility for advancing work in relation to Tourism at the second British-Irish Summit Council meeting in November 2001. 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 has been the focus of much of the work of the Council. Member Administrations have 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 has agreed to exchange information on courses delivered by training organisations throughout the BIC region. (Full details)

Administrations are continuing to develop 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. Tourism Satellite Accounting was the focus of a conference held in London in November 2004.

Work is also underway 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.

Full details of the work which took place in this sector up to the end of 2003 can be found in the BIC Report.