Locum Destination Review - Issue 5

The journal of record for the global destination industry

Editorial

We begin this issue with an in-depth look at the cutting edge of commercial leisure, on both sides of the coin – supply and demand. Last year’s unlikeliest destination hero, PY Gerbeau, talks frankly about his one amazing year at the Millennium Dome and his prior experience with Disney. As well as identifying a number of critical lessons for the public sector from the Dome episode, PY discusses at length the brand philosophy that got him through last year, and offers some pointers on where the sector as a whole is headed.

We also turn the spotlight on two of the world’s biggest leisure operators, Disney and Tussaud’s, in the first of a new series, ‘Brandwatch’. Tony Hodges, Non-Executive Director of Locum and one of the UK’s leading authorities on branding, delivers his verdict on a selection of promotional materials issued by these industry giants. The results make for interesting – and somewhat controversial – reading.

Disney’s third appearance in this issue comes with a cautionary note from Custos, the ‘independent voice of the destination industry’. Custos suggests that Disney may have to consider a new approach, in the wake of the recent protests against global brands. The new challenge facing Disney as Custos sees it? Addressing the growing consumer fear of scale.


On the demand side of leisure, meanwhile, Locum Chairman, Richard Tibbott, focuses on the changes in consumer behaviour witnessed by operators over the last 20 years, and maps out the trends likely to drive the market in the coming period. One of the burgeoning social groups identified by Richard as having an increasingly important appeal for the leisure sector, the ‘grey market’, is already having a major impact on one part of the sector: gardens and green destinations. Hugh Pearman of the Sunday Times considers the reasons behind the success of such destinations, which include Eden and the National Botanic Garden of Wales.

Since the election of Ken Livingstone as Mayor of London, the city has rarely been out of the headlines. Mayor Livingstone may have failed in his bid to halt the Public-Private Partnership for the Tube, but the improvement of public transport remains a key priority in his bid to upgrade the city’s infrastructure. Judging by the impact such changes have already had in New York City, this can only be good news for tourism in London. Sparked by a raft of top-down improvements to public services and facilities over the last few years, NYC has experienced an unprecedented increase in visitation by domestic and overseas visitors. Cristyne L. Nicholas talks us through the strategic promotional planning at NYC & Company that has capitalised on the deeper structural changes and helped to win a new generation of visitors. Two key figures in the London tourism industry, meanwhile, spy a ‘Darkness at the edge of town’. Paul Hopper, Managing Director of London Tourist Board, identifies a range of areas in which London must improve if it is to retain its status as a world-class destination for holidaymakers and business tourists. And Mike Hodgkinson, Chief Executive of BAA, underlines the need for adequate investment in another group of London’s crucial transport facilities for visitors: airports.

Owen Burdekin
Editor