Tourism season in South Devon is both a blessing and a curse for many. For some, the endless hours stuck in traffic or spent reversing down narrow lanes to allow caravans to pass is just not worth it. For many others, the busy season is an opportunity to turn business accounts from the red to the black and ensure that the year ends on a profitable note.
I, for one, fall into the second category. While we are not just a tourism economy, we must all recognise that it is an essential part of our area. The hundreds of thousands of visitors who come to our coastline, moorland, villages, town, campsites and hotels are playing a vital part in injecting money into our communities. They are helping not just to support existing businesses but develop new ones, as well as create jobs and opportunities for all.
Over the past three years, it has been a privilege to watch the evolution of small start-up businesses into fully-fledged SMEs that are helping to employ numerous people as well as create new ranges of products and services. From food and drink businesses that have marketed new products on the visitor economy to established hospitality businesses that are expanding and developing their business models. Across the board, there are great examples of innovation and creativity that are helping to keep the South Devon economy thriving.
However, there is more to be done. Comparisons between Devon and Cornwall may well be steeped in rivalry but we can also learn from their laser-like focus around branding. The Cornish brand outperforms the Devon one more often than not. So confident is the Cornish brand, that their bakeries can now be rather frustratingly be found across Devon towns! We need to emulate their approach and work together as a county to push and promote the food and drink we produce as well as the services we offer under a Devon brand.
Fortunately, a great deal of progress is always underway. Led by Simon Jupp MP, Devon MPs are working together to land the Great South West Initiative, which looks to replace the local enterprise zones (LEPs) and to ensure that we can identify, support and promote all those businesses that are within our midst. If achieved correctly, not only can we help those businesses that operate in our areas but we can help drive investment, staff recruitment and retention, and, perhaps most importantly, we can create an identity that is a draw to visitors not just from across the country but around the world.
Learning from those who have succeeded and re-energising the Great South West Initiative will go a long way to sustaining our tourism and hospitality sectors but we can go further still. By working with our FE colleges, we can show that careers in these two areas are not stop-gaps but long and fulfilling opportunities that deserve proper consideration when deciding in what sector to work.
My work to date to bring together the tourism and hospitality sectors with producers, educators and supporters has seen my small roundtable group swell to hundreds of members. It focuses on the positives of the South Devon economy as well as the difficulties faced by the industry overall, from staffing to supply chains to energy and VAT. However, only through this group have we been able to find ways to shorten supply chains, encourage greater local procurement as well as learn from one another.
This week I was fortunate to host Sir John Whittingdale MP, Minister for Tourism and Hospitality. His visit to Dartington, Rattery and Pennywell Farm offered an opportunity to make the case for how South Devon can be a model for others to follow. By working together and utilising the principles of localism we can create a robust and resilient economy that can weather all future storms and is of benefit to the whole area and all its residents.