Inquiry Into the Social and Economic Benefits of Social Tourism

All‐Party Parliamentary Group on Social Tourism Giving Britain a Break Inquiry into the social and economic benefits of social tourism October 2011 ‘ All‐Party Parliamentary Group on Social Tourism Giving Britain a Break Inquiry into the social and economic benefits of social tourism October 2011 £15.50 © Crown copyright 2011 You may re‐use this information (excluding logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open‐government‐licence/ or e‐mail: [email protected]. Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to us at [email protected] This document is also available from our website at http://appgonsocialtourism.nationbuilder.com/ ISBN: 9780108511035 Printed in the UK by The Stationery Office Limited ID P00851103 15892 10/11 Printed on paper containing 75% recycled fibre content minimum. Contents Foreword.........................................................................................................................................I The inquiry .....................................................................................................................................II Introduction...................................................................................................................................III Executive summary......................................................................................................................1‐4 Chapter I: Defining social tourism ................................................................................................5‐8 Chapter II: Mapping social tourism.............................................................................................9‐10 Chapter III: Social benefits .......................................................................................................11‐13 Chapter IV: Building economic evidence ..................................................................................14‐18 Chapter V: The role of the Government and the public sector ..................................................19‐23 Chapter VI: Lessons from Europe .............................................................................................24‐27 Chapter VII: Conclusion and recommendations........................................................................28‐31 Appendix .................................................................................................................................32‐33 Foreword Paul Maynard MP Chair, All‐Party Parliamentary Group on Social Tourism Twelve months ago I had never heard of “social tourism”. I suspect that there will be those who read this report who are as unaware of the concept as I was before I met the Family Holiday Association. This general lack of awareness has to make those of us who participated in this inquiry humble in our aims. We are but a starting point. We aim to build the foundations on which much will subsequently be erected. There must be recognition that raising awareness of what we are talking about, and placing it on the political agenda, are crucial objectives before we can go any further. There is no getting away from the fact that one of the most immediate themes to emerge from our evidence is the term “social tourism” itself. It confounds people on first hearing it, as it did me. Whether the subject matter discussed in this report will still be referred to as “social tourism” in a few years is open to worthwhile debate. At this early stage we are using the terminology we have available to us, but we must not be overly concerned if this changes over time. One of the most fascinating things to come out of the inquiry was the myriad of stakeholders engaged in activities that they themselves would not describe as constituting “social tourism”. In a sense this report is about shining a spotlight on what is out there now, not about creating something new from scratch. What attracted me to this endeavour over a year ago, in addition to the persuasiveness and vision of the Family Holiday Association, was the way in which the issue represented an overlap between social policy and tourism policy – two personal interests of mine. The breadth of the scope is reflected in the variety of stakeholders who submitted written and oral evidence. For witnesses and evidence takers, regardless of whether they were coming at the issue from a social policy or tourism perspective, everyone involved has consistently sought to ground their views in as strong an evidence base as possible. It would be naïve to not address the fact that we are living in constrained economic times, with no giant pot of money at the Government’s disposal. What this report has tried to do is put forward a range of ideas grounded in the evidence we have collected that will not necessitate vast sums of Government expenditure. Finally I would like to take the opportunity to thank all those who made the inquiry possible, in particular my parliamentary colleagues Bob Russell, Tony Baldry and Anne Marie Morris for participating in the oral evidence sessions. It required a great deal of time, effort, organisation and cooperation from many people and organisations. This report is the result of all that hard work. Now we have to make a concerted effort to take the ideas contained within the report forward to a broader audience. After all, this is merely the beginning of a long process. I The inquiry The All‐Party Parliamentary Group on Social Tourism First formed at the end of 2010, the All‐Party Parliamentary Group on Social Tourism is an informal cross party group of MPs and Lords. The purpose of the group is to investigate and promote the social and economic benefits of social tourism. All‐Party Groups hold no official status within Parliament and no formal powers, instead they are an opportunity for Parliamentarians to discuss, explore and promote their shared interest in specific policy issues. The inquiry process The inquiry was held over a number of months in 2011. Written evidence was collected between April and May, and four oral evidence sessions were held between 8th and 15th June. The inquiry was led by Paul Maynard MP, who chaired all the oral evidence sessions. He was assisted in these by Bob Russell MP, Tony Baldry MP and Anne Marie Morris MP. John McDonald, Director of the Family Holiday Association, also attended some sessions as a special adviser. Acknowledgements The Group would like to thank the Family Holiday Association for its assistance in requesting and collating the evidence for this inquiry, and for organising the oral evidence sessions. Thanks are due, too, to all those individuals and organisations who submitted written and oral evidence. For a full list, see the Appendix. The written submissions and transcripts of the oral evidence can all be read online at http://appgonsocialtourism.nationbuilder.com/2011_inquiry. Further information Please direct any comments or queries that you may have about this report or about the Group to the Secretariat at [email protected]. Alternatively contact the Chairman, Paul Maynard MP, at the House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA. Further information on the All‐Party Parliamentary Group on Social Tourism, including membership details, can be found on the website listed above. The printing and distribution costs of this report have been sponsored by Thomson Holidays, part of TUI Travel PLC. II Introduction John McDonald Director, Family Holiday Association The term “social tourism” is something that few people will have heard of and even fewer understand. And yet the concept is well known elsewhere, particularly in mainland Europe. Literally millions of people throughout the continent benefit from a wide variety of schemes designed to help those less able financially to enjoy the benefits of a break away from home. For decades in countries such as France, Spain and Belgium people have enjoyed the right to benefits that UK citizens have been mostly denied. And yet, people in Britain appear to value holidays as much as elsewhere and intuitively understand the importance of a break away from home. Unfortunately, almost one in every three families with young children in the UK cannot afford a simple one‐week holiday and more than a million families will not have even been able to afford a day out this summer. If access to a break has been supported in this country it will have been through a multitude of small schemes, usually run by charities, supporting a particular constituency of beneficiaries. One recent survey found more than 600 organisations providing a service that could be described as social tourism. Yet most of these organisations will not have recognised that this was what they were involved in. As long ago as 1976 a report Holidays: the social need, written by the Social Tourism Study Group and jointly sponsored by the English Tourist Board and the Trades Union Congress, concluded that “much more could and should be done in this country to enable everyone, whatever their social or economic status, to take a holiday”. But the findings of the report were largely ignored in the UK while, at the same time, the rest of Europe forged ahead with improving access to holidays for the most disadvantaged. One charity, the Family Holiday Association, has

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