Articles - July 2002

The Changing Role of Marketing Research at Museums
By Ceri Thomas Museum customers – stakeholders – can include staff members, friends' groups and season ticket holders, sponsors and members of the general public, as well as politicians and opinion formers. They all have different needs and priorities, they can all... more
Destinations and Local Distinctiveness
By Michèle Grant, Brian Human and Barbara Le Pelley Local distinctiveness is an elusive concept. Essentially, it encompasses the special social, economic or unique environmental characteristics of a place and the interaction of people with those characteristics. There is increasing concern that the... more
Friends and Family Reunited — Customers Queuing on Your Doorstep
By Susan Briggs Visiting friends and relatives (VFR) has long been seen as the Cinderella of the tourism industry. The common assumption is that if they're visiting their friends and relatives they are staying with them too, so the economic impact of this form of... more
Measuring the Local Impact of Tourism – The Big Issue for the Next Five Years
By Professor Victor T.C. Middleton FTS The measurement of tourism for a local authority may be likened to assembling a jigsaw puzzle comprising many complex shapes from which no obvious immediate pattern emerges. Many of the key pieces are missing…In the early 1990s, no more than around 25... more
Metroland – The Urban Tourism Market
By Steve Beioley From Dick Whittington to Ken Livingstone, the bright lights and excitement of the city have always exerted a powerful draw for people and still do so today. These days, however, it is not so much the streets that are paved with gold but the visitors'... more
Tourism by UK Residents in 2001
The information about the volume, value and characteristics of UK residents' tourism presented here comes from the report The UK Tourist 2001 which is the thirteenth in an annual series of reports. All information in the report comes from the United... more
Transport Links and Tourism
By Professor David Begg, Chairman, Commission for Integrated Transport One of the attractions of our own land for UK residents and overseas visitors alike is the beauty of our countryside and coastline and the diversity of our towns. We love going to places we have not seen before or cannot get to easily or regularly.... more
Visitor Centres
By Haydn Morris Visitor centres are taken for granted as part of the tourist scene. They perform the vital tasks of informing, promoting, interpreting, servicing and managing, but they are costly to develop and to operate. Finance, especially for operating costs,... more
Why Britain Should Join the Euro
By Christopher Johnson, Council Member, Britain in Europe It is an even chance that Mr Blair will hold a referendum in mid-2003 on the question of whether Britain should join the euro. He will do so only if Mr Brown, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, agrees before then that the five economic tests for entry... more