Martin Hannan: Castle can't sell tourism alone

Published on Tuesday 11 May 2010 09:55

IF Glasgow had somehow managed to be voted the 21st most popular destination in the world in any sort of poll, you could bet that their city gauleiters would be crowing all over the shop.

We would never hear the end of it as their tourist board would make sure the information was repeated ad nauseam.

There would be a gallus swagger added to the perambulatory style of its citizenry, and perhaps a small soupon of tonic wine would be imbibed in the suburbs in celebration of the achievement.

Glasgow, in short, always bigs it up when they win such awards. Edinburgh, by contrast, prefers to rest on its laurels whenever it gains important accolades, as it routinely does.

In case you hadn't noticed, last week Edinburgh was indeed named the 21st most popular destination in the world, the only city in the UK to feature in the top 25 compiled by the respected TripAdvisor website which polled thousands of travellers to produce the list.

This paper and The Scotsman, and indeed some published furth of the city by-pass, acknowledged the fact. But where was the city's supposed leadership in all the attendant publicity?

The news broke two days before the election, so perhaps they were all out on the stump. Or more likely they reacted as Edinburgh's leaders have done so often in the past, by hiding in a dark room and hoping that all the fuss will go away.

There has often been an ambivalence to tourism in this city, reflected in the response to the industry from council leaders down the years. I well remember one such leader arguing for a cut in tourism promotion budgets because "people will always come to Edinburgh, because we've got the Castle and stuff".

He entirely missed the point that with the fiercely competitive nature of worldwide tourism, people need to be told about a city's attractions again and again. So many jobs in this city depend on tourism that nothing should be left to chance in marketing the place.

That peculiar arrogance which suggests that Edinburgh is owed a living by the rest of the world who will always turn up "because we've got the Castle" needs to be challenged.

My feelings last week were summed up by Ron Hewitt, chief executive of the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, who said: "We're getting used to coming out top in these surveys but I would hate to think it will lead to complacency."

Sorry, Ron, but complacency is endemic in the body politic in this city. Note what happened when our two biggest banks and several other financial institutions threatened to implode. Where was the leadership drawing all the best experts together to plan a way through the crisis?

In tourism, it has usually been the same. Groups representing this faction or that sector come and go, and still no single voice has emerged as the champion of the tourist industry in this city. It indicates a lack of forethought and commitment from the city's leadership.

If nothing else, the ash from Iceland has shown us how fragile the tourism business can be, and though I believe we are in for a bumper year because of the low value of the pound, now is the time to capitalise for the Capital.

We have a tourism board, but they dance to VisitScotland's tune. What we should have is an independent well-funded Edinburgh tourist authority with real power that brings the whole industry in the city together and sets standards and encourages training and marketing to make us the best.

We should start by telling people that we're the 21st best destination in the world, but we aim to be the top city.

Lost Labour votes

As a good SNP member, I was disappointed that the party didn't add any seats to its 2005 haul, but not surprised. There's no doubt that Labour's campaign was effective in scaring out its core vote, and the biggest advantage they had was that everyone knew they were going to get beaten UK-wide, but no other party in Scotland offered a realistic chance of victory so it was as well to side with the biggest loser.

To all those who voted Labour, I can say only this. We are back in the Thatcher-Major era. Yet again you voted Labour, and the Tories won England, leading to the weekend scenes when two English ex-public schoolboys sat down to see who could inflict the most cuts on Scotland's public services. How very socialist . . .

Labourites, you've only your unionist selves to blame. When will you ever realise that the only way you are ever going to assure Labour-type policies in Scotland is when you run your own country?

Nor should Labour start thinking that victory in the Holyrood elections will automatically follow next year. This is a sophisticated electorate, and perfectly capable of voting one way for Westminster and another for Holyrood, especially if the controllers in London need a lesson.

My own party should also stop being afraid of campaigning about the only real issue that matters for Scotland – independence.

The SNP has proved that it can manage a country, even doing so without overall majority rule in Parliament, so now it must get back to the most basic cause of all – making this an independent nation once again.