Report No 1201/05 ANGUS COUNCIL

INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES COMMITTEE 13 OCTOBER 2005

SUBJECT: TWIN CITIES TOURISM CONFERENCE, JINAN, SHANDONG PROVINCE – 21 – 23 OCTOBER 2005

REPORT BY THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE

Abstract: Homologation is sought for a decision to authorise the attendance by the Economic Development Manager at a “Twin Cities Tourism Conference in Jinan, Shandong Province from 21/23 October 2005

1 RECOMMENDATION

1.1 It is recommended that the Committee homologate the decision taken by the Chief Executive in consultation with the Convener of Infrastructure Services to authorise the Economic Development Manager to attend the proposed Twin Cities Tourism Conference in Jinan, Shandong Province in October (21 – 23) at a cost of up to £1,100 inclusive of all expenses and travel.

2 INTRODUCTION

2.1 A communication has been received from the Sister City office of Yantai Municipality inviting the Council to participate in the China Shandong (Jinan) Twin Cities Tourism Conference initiated by Shandong Province which will take place from 21 – 23 October 2005 in Jinan, the provincial capital. It is proposed that the Council accepts this invitation given the importance of promoting tourism within China and the potential benefits of using this forum as an opportunity to market Angus as a golfing and general tourism destination.

2.2 In view of the need to make travel arrangements etc., the Chief Executive in consultation with the Convener decided to authorise participation at this forum for which homologation is now sought.

3 CHINA SHANDONG (JINAN) TWIN CITIES TOURISM CONFERENCE – OCTOBER 2005

3.1 The invitation for the Council to participate in the Twin Cities Tourism Conference in October has come at a time when the tourism industry in Scotland is fast responding to the Approved Destination Status granted to Chinese citizens earlier this year. All of the main agencies and tour operators across the UK are now investigating how best to gear up to the opportunities that will be opened up to Chinese tourists coming to the UK as a result of this agreement.

3.2 The Approved Destination Status is a bilateral agreement between China and the UK, allowing groups of five or more to visit. The tourists involved must go through approved agents in China, of which there are 650 licensed operators (in China) and a small number of these (19) are licensed to grant and issue visas. This number will increase to 50 by the end of 2005.

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3.3 It is estimated that there are over 170 million people in China who can afford to travel abroad and therefore this new focus has been considered of high priority, particularly given the fickle nature of other overseas markets. A number of conclusions have arisen from discussions held between the Economic Development Manager, VisitScotland and other private sector tourist operators within Scotland:

• Chinese agents don’t know very much about Scottish destinations. • Packages need to be produced to make it easy for visitors from China and the Far East to book travel arrangements here. • Information about packages and propositions in Scotland must be made available in Chinese, Korean and Japanese as appropriate. • Acceleration of trading can be achieved by working with tour operators based in China.

3.4 Because of the relationship which is already existing between Angus Council and Yantai and, through this relationship between Carnoustie Golf Links and Tiger Beach/Shanghai Silport, now is considered the best time to develop a stage further. Having built a general awareness about our product and the excellence of our golf courses and tourist facilities, now is considered a good time to offer products provided these can be packaged. The conference in Jinan would therefore provide the Council with a good opportunity to promote products such as the Scotland’s Golf Tartan Day Tournament, the Carnoustie Country Classic, the Dream Ticket and other products currently being developed with tour operators such as Scotia Travel and Global Travel Holidays.

3.5 Angus Council has a head start in promoting tourism via links with Yantai. There are over 250 golf courses now in China, with another 50 under development. There are different estimates of the number of Chinese golfers with a reasonable estimate now being over one million. There are also high numbers of foreigners playing golf in China and at Tiger Beach for example some 60% of rounds are played by Koreans and another 25% by Japanese. China is therefore a good staging post to promote golf in Angus to other Far East countries.

3.6 The Yantai Government has confirmed that an exhibition booth//stand will be allocated for Angus at the exhibition/conference. Five free places will be allocated to Angus whereby all travel, transportation, accommodation and meals etc will be provided by the Government during the period of the stay in Jinan. The only travel costs for participants will be the travel to and from China and internally from Beijing to Jinan. Costs involved are estimated to be in the region of £750 to £800 for travel, with other incidental expenses arising for meals and accommodation etc en route bringing the total up to a figure of no more than £1,100 inclusive.

3.7 It is therefore proposed that the Economic Development Manager should be authorised to attend this conference/exhibition and that the other places be allocated to the East of Scotland Golf Tourism Alliance, and Tiger Beach/Shanghai Silport, so that an appropriate team are able to represent and promote the best interests of Angus at this event.

3.8 The event will be attended by Government officials and by the main travel agencies operating across China with around 1,000 participants including travel agencies, government offices, airlines and other tourism operators. Invitations have been extended to over 100 sister cities in 30 countries and representatives of the major

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travel agencies from 30 cities in China. All the government tourism agencies and commercial tourism sector from within Jinan will also be represented. Jinan is the second largest province in China with almost 100 million people and therefore a good mix of contacts should be accessed through this event. The Yantai Government has also confirmed that a special invitation has been made by the Jinan Government to Korean, Malaysian, Indonesian and Japanese tourism sector which, it is thought, should be helpful in the promotion of golf and tourism in Angus.

4 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

4.1 Costs of attendance at the conference are estimated at up to £1,100 inclusive and can be met from the Economic Development Revenue budget for 2005/06.

5 HUMAN RIGHTS IMPLICATIONS

5.1 There are no Human Rights implications arising from this report.

6 CONSULTATION

6.1 The Director of Law and Administration and the Acting Director of Finance have been consulted in the preparation of this report.

7 CONCLUSION

7.1 Attendance at this forum will allow an opportunity to harness the mature links already made with China and to take our tourism promotion a stage further by offering tour operators a number of golf packages that Angus has to offer.

7.2 Given that Chinese citizens are now able to visit the UK more freely having been granted Approved Destination Status, the forum is timely and should afford Angus a welcome opportunity to promote the county generally as a tourism destination.

7.3 The partnership established with Tiger Beach/Shanhai Silport and with the Sister City Office of the Yantai Municipal Government will ensure that full support will be given to Angus Council during the exhibition.

NOTE

No background papers, as defined by Section 50D of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, (other than any containing confidential or exempt information) were relied on to any material extent in preparing the above Report.

DV/MM

10 October 2005

David Sawers Chief Executive