Opinion: Post Brexit tourism

Last Thursday 7th December the annual Association for Tourism in Higher Education (ATHE) conference took place in a windswept Eastbourne. As a social scientist, I was surprised but delighted to be asked to contribute on a panel  with prominent people from the industry on the fraught subject of the tourism industry after Brexit. The debate was quite heated at times, but generated a fair bit of light too.


The theme of the two day conference was the coast. Living in Canterbury in East Kent, I have coast not too far away on 3 sides – Herne Bay to the North, Ramsgate to the East and Folkestone to the South. All voted to Leave the EU. It was noted at the conference that many coastal resorts were in economically depressed Leave voting areas, areas that many feel will be worse off due to Brexit. Have they changed their mind? There is no evidence that they have. A recent poll showed that the top constituencies for residents signing a recent petition calling to leave the EU straight away included Bexhill and Battle, Folkestone and Hythe, Boston and Skegness, and Clacton. Other polls indicate that only small minority of the electorate nationally want to overturn Brexit.


Some of these areas, as is the case with my local favourite Margate in Kent, have been the recipients of significant amounts of EU money. Why, as one exasperated contributor argued, did these people bite the hand that feeds them? Why did they vote against their own interests? A number of contributors suggested that the answer to this is small minded xenophobia, a claim contradicted by the EU’s own surveys and by the record number of tourists visiting the UK this Summer.


One of the slogans of the Leave campaign was ‘take back control’. It’s a line that has been much maligned by Remainers - one panellist referred to it with an air of exasperated disbelief.  But for many Leave voters I know, ‘take back control’ was a wholly legitimate desire to have a bit more control over the politicians and policies that affect their lives – a bit more direct democracy, greater accountability.


I think those with a professional stake in the tourism industry should take ‘taking back control’ seriously, and in particular consider how tourism funding and strategy can be subject to the desires, aspirations and creativity of the residents of our coastal communities post-whatever Brexit we end up with. All too often destination marketing organisations (DMOs), local councils, universities, heritage, cultural and trade bodies are involved in a process of accessing funding that is, frankly, byzantine. On this point there was some agreement across the Remain / Leave divide in the room. My own direct experience is limited, but, I think, not untypical: a year’s worth of reports and meetings to help prepare a bid for European Union funds (via the UK’s Local Enterprise Partnerships, which replaced the Regional Development Agencies in 2012 and act as gatekeepers for the various EU regional funds) rendered useless by an unexpected decision to change the criteria for funding.


So how about, in the populist spirit of Brexit, taking back a bit of control? Why should not DMOs and democratically elected councillors, along with regional or local trade bodies, cultural organisations and universities, set their own criteria for funding based on locally developed strategy? Government could devolve criteria setting in this way, giving greater ownership and, yes, ‘control’, to local voters and stakeholders.


It seems to me that far too much time and resources are taken up by people with a deep knowledge, passion and a feel for the industry in their resort, region, attraction  or university engaging in game playing in relation to criteria that may or may not reflect their own perspectives, in order to get their hands on resources.


We talk a lot about local distinctiveness, ‘ownership’ of projects and accountability. Now would be a good time for central authorities to cede some authority, to trust and to empower the people who live and breathe the industry. Maybe that is one form of ‘taking back control’ that could contribute to creativity and regeneration, and maybe even one we could agree on.

Battle of Ideas 2017, London. Podcast of discussion of: 'On the Road: the spirit of travel from the Beats to the Millennials'

This year marks the sixtieth anniversary of Jack Kerouac’s iconic novel, On the Road, a testament to the emerging Beat Generation. The book was described by the Village Voice reviewer as ‘a rallying cry for the elusive spirit of rebellion of these times’. The sense of cutting loose and taking off that permeated Kerouac’s account influenced a newly mobile generation of young people who looked to the counter culture for inspiration on their own travels.

Subsequently, the hippie trail emerged. Such journeys were the preserve of relatively small numbers of often well-heeled youth, often in a position to reject materialism and cut ties with their jobs. Nevertheless, in their desire for communal living, harmony with nature, experimentation and recreation drug use, they epitomised an experimental vibe at the heart of the alternative travel culture.
Six decades on, the spirit of travel seems to have changed markedly.

Today, youth travel for a Millennials generation is heavily marketed as ethical gap years, adventure travel and volunteer tourism. While the Beats dropped out of the mainstream in favour of a ticket to nowhere in particular, for today’s youth, what happens at the destination seems more important. Encouraged to sign up to a CV-enhancing experience, a marker of global citizenship, the kick seems less in the travel itself and more in contributing to the communities they visit – for example, by helping to build a school or a clinic in a developing country. Whereas Kerouac wrote ‘I saw my life as a vast glowing empty page and I could do anything I wanted’, today’s travellers appear more constrained – counselled to check their privilege and to be aware of the cultural and environmental damage they might cause.

Far-ranging travel is undertaken by many more people than ever contemplated travelling abroad in Kerouac’s day. But how should we assess changes in the spirit of travel? Has a sense of experimentation, adventure and self-reliance been lost in favour of heavily planned, socially minded ‘experiences’? Was the quest for self-expression epitomised by the Beats’ desire to ‘drop out’ too inward looking? Is travel a good thing in its own right, regardless of the aims and methods?


Here is the podcast. It was a great discussion, and terrific contributions from the audience (3/4 of whom had read OTR).

https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/on-the-road-the-spirit-of-travel-from-the-beats-to-the-millennials/