An Ambassador, not a Ticket Tout

Written by Graham Tope on Thu 5th Sep 2002

Last year London's theatre industry resembled my local supermarket when Mayor Ken Livingstone launched a cut-price ticket promotion with a range of two-for-one and 50 percent off deals to encourage us to visit a London show.

Back then the tourist industry was reeling from the effects of the attacks on the US on September 11 and the foot and mouth outbreak. Emergency measures were needed to stem a potential tide of job losses in an industry that employs 275,000 people.

Nearly a year on, and what's changed? According to the latest reports, we are still trying to recover from the effects of the crises of 2001. Did the Mayor's recovery programme have any effect beyond the short-term benefit of giving some of us a cheap night out at the theatre?

Ken Livingstone has not provided us with an evaluation of the success, if any, of his initiatives, but the British Tourist Authority has estimated that Britain's tourist industry stands to loose about £2.5 billion this year. Last year there were 1.7million less visits to London by overseas tourists, whose spending was down by over £1 billion. And nearly two million less people made a trip to London from elsewhere in the UK.

When you bear in mind that tourism is the capital's third largest industry, generating around £9 billion each year, such dramatic decreases in visitor numbers and revenue is very worrying. There are occasional publicity stunts from the Mayor, like when he took his staff to see a West End play and told other employers to treat their staff and boost the morale of the theatre industry, but where are his long term initiatives?

Short-term gimmicks are no substitute for a longer-term, strategic vision for London's tourism industry, which would not only tackle the current problems but would also encourage future growth. However, this is clearly a low priority for the Mayor - more than two years into his term of office, we are still waiting for him to produce a tourism strategy for the capital.

He needs to be a true ambassador for London, promoting its many attractions to both home and overseas visitors. But in a way we can all be ambassadors for London and do more in our own home city. I am guilty, like many of us, of rarely visiting London's many attractions despite living and working in the capital. The only times I do visit our attractions is when I have guests come to stay - when it's on your doorstep, it is far too easy to put off a visit to another day!