Tourism Is Changing

Raising Quality

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If you haven't already read What every business needs to know then read it now.

Changing trends have delivered a number of new challenges to the UK tourism industry (in addition to all our usual ones like the weather, a strong pound and, sadly, in more recent years, threats of terrorism). There are three areas that tourism businesses must respond to if they are to succeed. The good news is that the tourism and leisure sector is growing and that businesses that successfully adapt are more profitable, more sustainable and perhaps even more rewarding to run. The three areas are:

Rising consumer expectations - not just of the products and services we deliver, but the way we deliver them: our customer service and our marketing, especially our online marketing
Increased competition, particularly from the use of the internet which makes it easy for customers to search for exactly what they want, and just click on the next business if you don't appear to offer it
Change of emphasis - visitors are now buying more on the basis of what their overall experience will be like. They want to be satisfied not just that your business looks good, but that your overall destination - the place you're located in - will be pleasant to get to and be in, and that there's plenty on offer for them in terms of places to stay, visit and eat and drink in. They also tend to be more theme-based: looking for culture, heritage, shopping, nightlife, activities, getting away from it all etc.

Quality wins

In this changing climate it is the quality businesses in the quality destinations that are winning the business. But what does being a quality business actually mean, and how do you go about raising quality?

Next in this section:

What Raising Quality Means is the next topic in this section.
Making a Quality Plan provides a step-by-step guide to planning to improve your business.

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2009 NE Access for All Tourism Award winner: 253 Kb; 2009 NE Access for All Tourism Award winner
2009 NE Business Tourism Award Winner: 193 Kb; 2009 NE Business Tourism Award Winner
2009 NE Outstanding Customer Service Tourism Award winner: 301 Kb; 2009 NE Outstanding Customer Service Tourism Award winner
2009 NE Sustainable Tourism Award Winner: 187 Kb; 2009 NE Sustainable Tourism Award winner
2009 NE Taste of England Gold Award Winner: 214 Kb; 2009 NE Taste of England Gold Award winner
2010 Access for All Tourism Award entry form: 2.2 Mb; Access for All Tourism Award application form 2010
2010 Best Tourism Experience Toursm Award entry form: 2.2 Mb; Best Tourism Experience Tourism Award 2010
2010 Caravan Park and Holiday Village Tourism Award entry form: 2.2 Mb; Caravan Park and Holiday Village application form 2010
2010 Guest Accommodation Tourism Award entry form: 2.2 Mb; Guest Accommodation Tourism Award application form 2010
2010 Large Hotel of the Year Tourism Award (over 35 beds) entry form: 2.2 Mb; Large Hotel of the Year Tourism Award 2010 (over 35 beds)
2010 Large Visitor Attraction of the Year Award (over 50,000 visitors) entry form: 2.2 Mb; Large Visitor Attraction of the Year Tourism Award
2010 Outstanding Customer Service Award entry form: 2.2 Mb; Outstanding Customer Service Award 2010
2010 Self Catering Holidays entry form: 2.2 Mb; Self Catering Holidays Tourism Award 2010
2010 Small Hotel Tourism Award (under 50 beds) entry form: 2.2 Mb; Small Hotel Tourism Award 2010 (under 50 beds)
2010 Small Visitor Attraction of the Year Award (under 50,000 visitors) entry form: 2.2 Mb; Small Visitor Attraction of the Year Award (under 50,000 visitors)
2010 Sustainable Tourism Award entry form: 2.2 Mb; Sustainable Tourism Award 2010
2010 Taste of England Award entry form: 2.2 Mb; Taste of England Award 2010
2010 Tourism Event of the Year entry form: 2.2 Mb; Tourism Event of the Year 2010
2010 Tourist Information Centre of the Year entry form: 2.2 Mb; Tourist Information Centre of the Year 2010
Access Case Study - Discovery Museum: 171 Kb; Accessibility Case Study of how the Discovery Museum, South Tyneside became 'accessible for all'.
Access Case Study - Guides and Tours, Tom Keating: 282 Kb; Accessibility Case Study of how the Tom Keating, blue badge guide and tour services provider, became 'accessible for all'.
Access Case Study - Locomotion Museum: 291 Kb; Accessibility Case Study of how the Locomotion Museum, Shildon became 'accessible for all'.
Access Case Study - Self-catering, The Hytte: 773 Kb; Access case study for The Hytte self-catering property.
Business Tourism Award: 2.2 Mb; Business Tourism Award 2010
Customer Tally: 19 Kb; An Excel spreadsheet for analysing your customers by age, income, interest and origins
Doc - 2009 NE Large Hotel of the Year Award winner: 185 Kb; 2009 NE Large Hotel of the Year Award Winner
Easy Does It - New Guide to Accessibility for Tourism Businesses: 565 Kb; A new guide for tourism businesses from VisitBritain that looks at easy, practical and low-costs ways to improve the accessibility of your businesses.
Hints & Tips on Entering for 2010 NE Tourism Awards: 165 Kb; Hints & Tips for entering 2010 NE Tourism Awards
Hospitality Assured Flyer: 83 Kb; Hospitality Assured is the quality assurance standard from the Institute of Hospitality. Download this flyer to find out how this customer-focussed standard can help you improve your services and win more custom.
Joining the National Accessible Scheme Leaflet 2010/2011: 3.9 Mb; National Accessible Scheme Leaflet 2010/2011
Quality Planning Grid: 87 Kb; An Excel spreadsheet for analysing your business and planning to improve quality. Includes examples of areas, topics and points to consider and the first section has been filled out as an example.
Your Business and Disability Discrimination: 113 Kb; This factsheet introduces the Disability Discrimination Act and explains the implications for your business. It helps you understand how to successfully comply with the Act, where to get more information and sources of help.

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Raising Quality