Responding to publication of the UK Government’s Tourism Strategy, SNP Business and Enterprise spokesperson Mike Weir MP has condemned the attack on star rated systems. Mr Weir said the emphasis on consumer generated reviews on websites was naïve and open to abuse.

Commenting, Mr Weir, who recently held a Parliamentary debate on the subject, said:

“A huge amount of work by the national tourist boards and the AA has gone into the Quality Assurance or star rating scheme to create a unified system of common standards to cover Scotland, Wales, and England. It means that so that visitors coming to the UK have a good idea of the accommodation that they would get when travelling within Great Britain.

“Indeed the Scottish system was so well thought of that VisitScotland has been contracted to help set up similar systems in other countries – from Namibia to Sweden -  an enterprise that is dismissively undermined by DCMS’s branding of the schemes as ‘bureaucratic’, ‘elitist’ and ‘politically arrogant’. There is little sign of ‘joined up thinking’ here, let alone of David Cameron’s much-vaunted ‘Respect Agenda’, but plenty of evidence of a Thatcherite agenda to trust all to market forces.

“It is particularly regrettable that in one fell swoop the UK government have undermined this important export drive with its ill-judged and naïve approach, relying on consumer-generated review websites.

“Far from ‘making the consumer king’ as indicated in the document, they are running the risk of creating confusion and undermining well-run businesses. Far too often it is only the dissatisfied who take the time to write such reviews, and indeed there have been serious concerns about malicious and planted reviews. In any event, claims to be championing the consumer need to be taken with a pinch of salt when advanced by a Westminster government that has recently announced the scrapping of well-regarded watchdog Consumer Focus. To argue that this fundamental undermining of the drive for quality is a victory for consumer power and a mechanism for ‘raising industry standards’ is positively Orwellian.

“I have particular concerns about the self-catering sector which is singularly ill-served by TripAdvisor, apparently the government’s preferred vehicle for dissemination of information. The document purports that ‘Every firm will be rated by its customers, whether it joins the scheme or not’. This is patently untrue in respect of small self-catering businesses, which generally accommodate fewer guests for longer periods than hotels and B&Bs which are often visited by visitors touring for a night or two. Self-catering is a key part of the accommodation mix – particularly within Angus and across Scotland – and any proposal which detracts from the availability of accurate, transparent and easily comparable information is to be deplored, even if the Westminster government’s proposals are ostensibly targeted only at the tourist industry within England.

“Tourism is vital to our economy and is also about selling national identity. The UK government approach risks undermining a vital economic asset, and creating dissent when we should be united in pushing forward this industry. The document makes token nods to the issues of accurate information on disability accessibility, and sustainability issues, but there is nothing to tell us how we will benchmark our progress in these areas, let alone address the problems of digital exclusion which this approach can only exacerbate.

“It is a final irony that the UK Government tells us all the future is digital on a day when problems with the DCMS website meant that the new strategy was unavailable online, leaving interested parties to call the department to ask for the document to be sent by email!”

Note:

Mr Weir’s parliamentary debate on the issue, held on 15 February, can be found here:

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm110215/halltext/110215h0002.htm#11021543000287