VisitBritain CEO Looks Ahead to 2012

(ATR) “We know we’ve got to get this right now, not just for 2012,” says VisitBritain CEO Sandie Dawe. (VisitBritain) The 2012 Summer Olympics present an unrivalled opportunity for tourism in the United Kingdom to welcome millions of new visitors to its shores before, during, and after the Games. VisitBritain is the national tourism agency, responsible for marketing Britain worldwide.

VB CEO Sandie Dawe says the entire UK visitor economy should benefit from the Games, and that her organization is working with a wide range of tourism and non-tourism partners to showcase "brand Britain" to the world. We caught up with her recently and asked her to share the agency's vision for 2012.

ATR: Given that Great Britain and London are tourist destinations year-round, what is needed to gear up for the London Olympics?

SD: We’re gearing up particularly around offering a fantastic welcome to everybody and to make sure the experience for visitors during the Games is second to none.

London is already a major visitor destination. But what we’re really interested in is the fact that there will be four billion people watching the Games who don’t necessarily have a great deal of knowledge about London and Britain. So for us to be able to showcase how friendly and welcoming we are, and the fact we can put on a fantastic party and festival -- which is the intention around the Games -- our strategy is that that will refresh interest in London and Britain as a tourist destination.

In emerging markets for tourism such as India, China, Brazil and Mexico, they actually don’t have a very strong image necessarily of what’s here at all, so it is really to present us as somewhere interesting, to get us on the radar for visitors to come here after the Games, having seen those fantastic images.

ATR: With so many potential visitors to the Olympics from Europe in 2012, is there room in London for them?

SD: Yes, absolutely. London is more than capable of coping with numbers of spectators, whether it is transport or dining, attractions, or entertainment. London’s got over 100,000 hotel rooms and by 2012 there will be over 135,000 rooms within 50km of the Olympic Park. So I think by any standards we are much bigger than any of the other previous host cities in terms of that capacity—visitor capacity. And the transport system moves many, many more passengers each day than previous host cities.

The transport connections are such that you can move from one side of London to the other very quickly, or indeed from the perimeter of London into London into the Games because actually where the main stadium is, new rail lines and fast connections are being built, including a Eurostar connection, which means people will come in from points in Europe very quickly directly into the venue.

ATR: What about staying outside London? Is this a practical option?

SD: Yes, indeed!

It is under two hours from Yorkshire or Wales to London. It is under an hour and a half from Birmingham. It is under an hour from Brighton or Oxford. So that might give people an idea of just how quickly you can move from – say, a seaside city like Brighton or the Yorkshire countryside or the Mountains of Wales. So it’s not that people would necessarily stay as far afield, but it is certainly going to be possible to do easy side trips and it is certainly going to be possible for people living in other parts of the U.K. to visit the Games very easily, and I think it is very easy for visitors to be basing themselves on the perimeter of London.

ATR: What kinds of improvements are being made to London airports? Sandie Dawe says that Terminal 5 at Heathrow is a major improvement for Britain's tourism infrastructure. (Getty Images)

SD: We’ve already seen the new Terminal 5 complete and open and functioning at Heathrow. It is a fabulous terminal. There are further improvements at Heathrow on the other terminals. There are expansion and improvements at City Airport, and across the other London gateways as well.

At VisitBritain, we’ve been leading a “Welcome to Britain” group to tackle problems, and actually the Olympics in 2012 has acted as a catalyst for the work of this group.

This group is actually looking at things such as welcome branding and signage at airports but also things to do with pre-arrival—the streamlining of the visa process, information available pre-arrival. We sell tickets and Oyster Cards and passes so on at our Web site. We sell that also through our visa service in countries where you need a visa to come here so that people actually can buy before they fly. This is not so much about infrastructure, quite honestly. These efforts are more about service, service delivery, welcome, streamlining those processes.

ATR: London has reputation as costly destination - will that be true for the Olympics?

SD: The pound is a lot less strong than it was a year or so ago and that message is well and truly out there.

We’ve worked with VisitLondon and the hospitality industry to develop a fair pricing and practice charter. It is voluntary. But many in the industry have already signed up, particularly across the events and hospitality sector. So operators or suppliers can identify suppliers that have made a firm commitment to reasonable and fair trading terms during the Olympics period and during the Olympic and Paralympics period. So we are doing what we can to ensure that there isn’t an increase in prices around the timing of the Games.

ATR: What are your expectations for tourism related to the Olympics for the rest of the country?

SD: Our strategy at VisitBritain is very much to make the Games work for the whole of Britain and not just London. And so we’re looking at some of the unique features around the Olympics that really play to rest of the country. The torch relay, the Cultural Olympiad and right through to things like the pre-Games training camps where the benefit will go to places around the region.

We’re looking at the other areas that are hosting the Games.

We’re looking at other angles like Much Wenlock in Shropshire is actually the home of the Olympics and the man, Dr. William Penny Brookes, who inspired de Coubertin. So we’re looking things that are Olympic-related and building that into narratives for the media. We’ve already had Chinese T.V. crews going to Much Wenlock to follow that story.

A huge celebration is planned around the torch relay and a big effort is being put into Cultural Olympiad. It’s not just going to be a Cultural Olympiad in the six weeks or six months in the lead up to the Games, it is actually rolling out as we speak. New works of art being commissioned around the regions, there will be international Shakespeare festivals and so on.

A lot of our towns and cities and regions are planning live site with big screens. That’s a partnership with LOCOG, so they can create their own Olympic experience around a big screen.

ATR: Outside of the Olympics, what will be the most popular place for visitors?

SD: Our top towns for international visitors in a regular year would be places like Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool -- the big cities. And also historical cities like York and Bath, Oxford and Cambridge. Let’s not forget the places that are hosting other aspects of the Games -- the rowing in Eton and Windsor, the football around the different venues around the country.

We are seeing (the Paralympics) on a par with the Olympics, and not as a lesser event. The fact that Team GB traditionally does very well at the Olympics we see generating a huge level of excitement and there is going to be a lot of school and educational involvement at that point. And the fact that were very proud that Britain was the birthplace of the Paralympic movement through the first events at Stoke Mandeville

London is already strong in terms of accessible busses and taxis and so on. It is acting as a real catalyst for us to improve our accessibility for disabled travelers.

We’re seeing the Olympics as being the jewel in the crown of a decade of sports across the whole of Britain. In addition to the global events we host every year, such as Wimbledon, we’ve got the Commonwealth Games coming to Glasgow in 2014, we’ve got the Rugby World Cup in 2015, the Ryder Cup in Wales in 2009, and we’ve got hopes for a successful bid to be the FIFA World Cup in 2018. So our ability to bid successfully for these big events and to put on a fantastic show is actually driving a huge aspect of our visitor economy.

To learn more about VisitBritain and the 2012 Summer Olympic Games http://www.visitbritain.us/things-to-see-and-do/interests/sports/london2012/index.aspx

Written by Ed Hula

For general comments or questions, click here