Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines’ flagship Bolette is to make her Channel 5 debut later this month, as…
TA Weekly Update – 16th January 2025
In this newsletter:
- ‘Drip pricing’ draft guidance consultation closes next week
- Comprehensive Spending Review submissions
- Tourism Insights Conference – speaker announcement
- Daily Mail suggests Chancellor looking at ‘hotel tax’
- Youth Mobility motion passed in Parliament
- Join a tour of London exclusive for TA members
- Safe Spaces, Preventing Harassment – BBPA webinar on 30th Jan
Network Rail: Future of Cities Report launched
‘Drip pricing’ draft guidance consultation closes next week
Before Christmas we circulated some draft guidance from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) around Unfair Commercial Practices following the passage of the new Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. This especially relates to our sector when it comes to so-called ‘drip pricing’ and also in respect of ‘fake reviews’.
The draft guidance and consultation document are available here. The consultation on this draft guidance closes next week, on 22nd January.
If you have not already done so, you may wish to review the draft guidance, especially Chapter 9.
We took part in a small roundtable consultation exercise at the CMA this week where we dug into the guidance and gave some feedback.
The crucial thing to note is that genuinely optional services will be treated differently from mandatory fees. All mandatory fees must be included in the invitation to purchase, but fees for additional services and products do not need to be. This gets somewhat complicated when dealing with variable fees which cannot be reasonably calculated in advance. The current guidance says that information must be given as to how these fees will be calculated so that the consumer can calculate it for themselves. I.e. it will not be enough to say that additional fees will be in the range £5-£12, but also how they will be calculated. So any reasonably complicated variable mandatory fee will cause a great deal of additional burden on the business and complication in advertising prices. This may also cause problems when, for instance, advertising on a per-person-per-night basis and similar.
Secondly, it is clear that some actors are keen to promote a grey area where additional products and services should be deemed as mandatory even if they are ‘technically’ additional. Fees for storage of baggage, seat selection on aeroplanes, and Wi-Fi charges were given as examples. We pushed back strongly against this notion. It is vital that businesses are given clear guidance – fees are either mandatory or optional. Storing bags, providing premium Wi-Fi, and selecting seats on flights are additional services and in no way should be considered mandatory.
If any specific problems with the guidance are identified, do make sure that CMA receive feedback by the deadline.
You may wish to look back on the Analysis and Briefing paper we produced at the time of the consultation for background information on this topic.
Comprehensive Spending Review submissions
On another consultation, this is to remind you that the portal for submissions to the Comprehensive Spending Review will close at 2359 on 9 February 2025.
We are currently putting our draft submission together and hope to circulate this in the next week to colleagues with two purposes: a) to get your feedback and b) to help inform your own submissions.
Our submission focuses on putting the current state of the tourism industry into context, pushing back against notions that tourism, tourists and our businesses are under-taxed (see story below) and urging a good funding settlement for VisitBritain/VisitEngland, in light of the Government’s inbound target and broader economic growth mission.
Spending Review representation portal
If your organisation has any CSR content you wish to share with us in advance, please do so in the next few days.
Tourism Insights Conference – speaker announcement
We are pleased to announce our first speaker for this year’s Tourism Insights Conference. David Edwards, who will be familiar to almost everyone, will be speaking on behalf of ETOA and looking at age demographics and what impact they have on supply and demand. As usual, David’s presentation is bound to be fascinating. More speaker announcements are due in the next few days.
👉 Tuesday 18th March 2025
👉 Conference 0930-1400
👉 Parliamentary Reception 1500-1700
Sponsorship packages now available
Daily Mail suggests Chancellor looking at ‘hotel tax’
At the weekend the Daily Mail reported that the Chancellor is considering imposing another tax on accommodation in our sector – this time in the form of a ‘hotel tax’ in order to stabilise public finances.
This was our comment:
A national “hotel tax”, imposed to plug Treasury finances, with no ring-fencing, on top of our globally high 20% VAT rate, on top of NIC increases, business rate increases, and flat-lining demand, is the exact opposite of what our industry needs right now.
Given the Government’s ambition to *grow* tourism numbers, as well as the economy more generally, there needs to be a swift and decisive rejection of this policy suggestion.
When asked about this at DCMS questions today, the Minister said they had ‘no plans to introduce additional taxes’.
Youth Mobility motion passed in Parliament
James MacCleary MP (LD, Lewes) this week introduced a “Ten Minute Rule” motion in the Commons on Youth Mobility.
MacCleary made an impassioned speech about the value of youth mobility and why bringing back the lost ability for young people to live, work and experience culture in other European countries – for a limited period of time – is economically sensible. In particular, he pointed out that these arrangements already exist for other countries such as Taiwan where this year’s application has just opened up.
We are grateful to him for keeping this important matter alive in Parliament.
Reach the speech in Hansard here
Join a tour of London exclusive for TA members
Our colleagues and members the Institute of Tourist Guiding (ITG) have kindly arranged a guided tour for a small number TA members around London. This will be a great opportunity to experience being a tourist in the capital and to see first-hand the service that an ITG-qualified tour guided gives to our visitors.
The tour will be with Angus Campbell QGM, MITG and will take in “Royal London, Parliament, Whitehall and the National Gallery” with some flex depending on the weather.
It will be 1000-1200 on Wednesday 29th January 2025, meeting at Green Park station.
We only have a very small number of spaces available. If you or a colleague at your organisation would like to join please let me know and we will allocate places as fairly as we can. Drop us an email to Richard.Toomer@tourismalliance.com. We’re grateful to Angus and ITG for arranging this opportunity.
Safe Spaces, Preventing Harassment – BBPA webinar on 30th Jan
The BBPA, in conjunction with ENEI, will be holding the first in the second series of its “Open To All” Diversity & Inclusion webinars on Thursday 30th January, at 11.00am and are pleased to invite Tourism Alliance members to join as well.
Details:
Harassment has no place at work. This session will cover legal definitions, employer responsibilities, prevention strategies, and fostering a safe, inclusive culture. Designed for employers, managers, and individuals, this session will empower you to tackle harassment effectively.
This webinar will help you to:
- Understand the legal definition of harassment and your responsibilities as an employer.
- Learn practical strategies to prevent harassment and create a safe and inclusive environment for all.
- Develop skills to confidently address and respond to incidents of harassment, including harassment by third parties.
- Gain insights into best practices for fostering a positive and respectful workplace culture.
- Understand how to prevent harassment in customer-facing environments, addressing issues that may arise from third parties such as customers or suppliers in pubs, bars, and breweries.
Sign-up & find details of the speakers here
Network Rail: Future of Cities Report launched
We were pleased to be present at the launch of a new Network Rail report into the Future of Cities this week. Joss Croft, TA Vice Chair, represented the Alliance.
This new report explores the changing landscape of city environments since the pandemic and how multiple sectors can work together, alongside public transport and the railways, to deliver more for growth and productivity.
Network Rail says:
“From our findings, it’s clear that cities are here to stay and remain fundamental to economic growth, knowledge sharing and delivering prosperity fairly across the country. However, we can see that how cities are being used has shifted – and continues to evolve. While we have seen a return to working from offices since the pandemic, it’s clear that hybrid and remote working could limit the potential of some cities to achieve full agglomeration benefits.
“Our cities are microcosms of our national economy and are home to more than 2/3 of our most productive jobs. Each economic sector can achieve more in a clustered city environment, supported by great infrastructure and transport links, than it can on its own. If the 8 largest cities outside of London met their productivity potential, £47 billion more per year could be generated for the national economy. Rail and public transport, working in partnership with business, can help unlock the growth and productivity potential of our country.”
Related Posts
