Enterprise Development Scheme.

[Non-Believer]

It's unfortunately what happens when one elects a Govt, majorly composed of farmers living off the public purse and those drawn from the lower-ranked public services, also all accustomed to living off the public teat, to oversee a CS also funded by the public teat but devoid of much experience in commercial operations with whom they have to interract in the taxpayer's interest.

Throw in a mindset and culture that says "don't look back", even when losses of millions are involved, because the taxpayer can always be bled for more and you have a great recipe. For those referred to above.

Who will retire on great terms. Funded by the taxpayer.

[thesultanofsheight]

28 minutes ago, Non-Believer said:

It's unfortunately what happens when one elects a Govt, majorly composed of farmers living off the public purse and those drawn from the lower-ranked public services, also all accustomed to living off the public teat, to oversee a CS also funded by the public teat but devoid of much experience in commercial operations with whom they have to interract in the taxpayer's interest.

Throw in a mindset and culture that says "don't look back", even when losses of millions are involved, because the taxpayer can always be bled for more and you have a great recipe. For those referred to above.

Who will retire on great terms. Funded by the taxpayer.

Contender for post of the year. 

[joeyconcrete]

Putting aside the critique of Government and the fortunes of the visitor economy; isn’t this a case of considering whether an effective 20% rebate is effective or equitable?  It probably is - if the modelling is done right (Similar jurisdictions offer the same for *any* new role).

As for the bigger picture, perhaps we go against the traditional MF grain and use this thread to put forward its solutions to workforce/skills/tourism. One that ignores binning MHKs, firing IOMG etc. 

I’m not close enough to tourism, and whilst I’ve been closely following the interest in a felt museum since Manxnet forums, I’m not an avid supporter.

[asitis]

37 minutes ago, joeyconcrete said:

Putting aside the critique of Government and the fortunes of the visitor economy; isn’t this a case of considering whether an effective 20% rebate is effective or equitable?  It probably is - if the modelling is done right (Similar jurisdictions offer the same for *any* new role).

As for the bigger picture, perhaps we go against the traditional MF grain and use this thread to put forward its solutions to workforce/skills/tourism. One that ignores binning MHKs, firing IOMG etc. 

I’m not close enough to tourism, and whilst I’ve been closely following the interest in a felt museum since Manxnet forums, I’m not an avid supporter.

There are huge opportunities being missed in respect of tourism which get little or no attention paid simply because they don't fall into the category of motorsport ! 

[thesultanofsheight]

46 minutes ago, asitis said:

There are huge opportunities being missed in respect of tourism which get little or no attention paid simply because they don't fall into the category of motorsport ! 

Yet we have spent £124M buying the Steam Packet despite the fact we have no clear tourism strategy and not even any clear vision of what the IOM tourist proposition is. All we can realistically look forward to is 3 more years of Skelly and Callister offering shit excuses for why the sector is further declining. At least from this Easter they’ll be able to blame Brexit rather than their own incompetence. 

[Neil Down]

1 hour ago, thesultanofsheight said:

Yet we have spent £124M buying the Steam Packet despite the fact we have no clear tourism strategy and not even any clear vision of what the IOM tourist proposition is. All we can realistically look forward to is 3 more years of Skelly and Callister offering shit excuses for why the sector is further declining. At least from this Easter they’ll be able to blame Brexit rather than their own incompetence. 

I doubt they’ll be clever enough to hide behind that excuse...

[Donald Trumps]

1 hour ago, thesultanofsheight said:

Yet we have spent £124M buying the Steam Packet despite the fact we have no clear tourism strategy and not even any clear vision of what the IOM tourist proposition is. All we can realistically look forward to is 3 more years of Skelly and Callister offering shit excuses for why the sector is further declining. At least from this Easter they’ll be able to blame Brexit rather than their own incompetence. 

They just cannot permitted to go on as they are, refusing all ideas from outside their ivory tower

Fascinating to see Iceland complaining of it's 2.5m tourists ruining it's roads.....

 

[Donald Trumps]

14 hours ago, Kopek said:

So, another quango then?

They're a bit specialist. Of course, they could take on another director for tourism, a couple of CS's , various executives, middle managers and clerical staff

OOOh, bit like the Tourist Board but with a leaning to heritage???

OOOh Ian, we love your train set!

I don't think so.

 

I think you're wrong

There should at least be open debate on the future of tourism & enterprise development generally

This DfE Agency structure thing is just a waster of public money, for the most part

[doc.fixit]

5 hours ago, joeyconcrete said:

Putting aside the critique of Government and the fortunes of the visitor economy; isn’t this a case of considering whether an effective 20% rebate is effective or equitable?  It probably is - if the modelling is done right (Similar jurisdictions offer the same for *any* new role).

As for the bigger picture, perhaps we go against the traditional MF grain and use this thread to put forward its solutions to workforce/skills/tourism. One that ignores binning MHKs, firing IOMG etc. 

I’m not close enough to tourism, and whilst I’ve been closely following the interest in a felt museum since Manxnet forums, I’m not an avid supporter.

.............I rather think that if you wish to look back over previous discussions you will find many well thought out suggestions and methods of enhancing business to the benefit of ALL on the island..........there really are some clever folks on this forum with plenty of business skills and experience............

[joeyconcrete]

39 minutes ago, doc.fixit said:

.............I rather think that if you wish to look back over previous discussions you will find many well thought out suggestions and methods of enhancing business to the benefit of ALL on the island..........there really are some clever folks on this forum with plenty of business skills and experience............

I don't dispute that, quite the opposite in fact. That was the essence of my point. Beyond the felt museums, monorails, fire the civil servants and there's a boat in the morning - there is substance. The challenge is to identify the well thought out suggestions and methods, going back years, in amongst the noise, sock puppets of yesteryear, and the many derailed threads.

I was thinking along the lines of, set out the Island's challenges, or just one - and the clever folks propose solutions. Contributors can vote up or down. Crowd-sourced economic inspiration.

 

[woody2]

in regards to tourism, a family resort with modern accommodation, small theme park and link up with outside "attractions".......

cost less than £10m to start-up........ 

fix the ferry prices......

[joeyconcrete]

5 hours ago, woody2 said:

in regards to tourism, a family resort with modern accommodation, small theme park and link up with outside "attractions".......

I always thought the Howstrake Holiday camp would be perfect for this (and the land is for sale). Or, a smaller incarnation of the Centerparcs concept at South Barrule.

The challenge is the business-case & economies of scale and as you point out, the limiting factor could be the cost of travel.

You then have Chester Street - which could be a useful family-orientated leisure facility. I recall Summerland in the 80s seemed to cater for whole families, cabaret, play area, arcade machines, skating, etc. Times have changed, but I do wonder if there is a gap for something like that. When my teenage son complains there is no-where to go in the evening, and I think back - I used to go to Summerland/Crescent or a bunch of similar places.

[thesultanofsheight]

5 hours ago, woody2 said:

in regards to tourism, a family resort with modern accommodation, small theme park and link up with outside "attractions".......

cost less than £10m to start-up........ 

fix the ferry prices......

Maybe up in the North. Some nice lodges with some lovely coastal views? Nice and tasteful tucked away in a lovely rural setting.  Oh dear, we didn’t want any of that did we? We just want to live in caves and complain every time somebody discovers fire! 

[joeyconcrete]

Heritage/Antiquity

I also understand the appreciation of heritage and antiquity - but we are often so reliant upon things people developed back then. This is fine, but we seem incapable of developing anything remotely similar now to draw visitors, nevermind make the current (or next-generation) view new developments in the same light. Have there been any developments or attractions in the last 20 years that people will fight to preserve in 50/100 years time?

It makes you wonder how the Victorians managed to develop so many extravagant schemes. Lets build a Glen. A folley. etc.

Travel

I suspect a challenge for any investment-heavy tourism development is the available catchment - against the backdrop of comparatively high travel costs.

The question remains - if you reduced the inherant travel cost to the Island... would that increase visitor numbers? Is that the limiting factor? What if you eliminated the inbound cost of travel altogether? Would that drive up tourists?

[thesultanofsheight]

2 minutes ago, joeyconcrete said:

The question remains - if you reduced the inherant travel cost to the Island... would that increase visitor numbers? Is that the limiting factor? What if you eliminated the inbound cost of travel altogether? Would that drive up tourists?

No. 

There isn’t enough to bring people here in sufficient numbers regardless of cost. 

Victorian Britain had different expectations of holidays which is why we built so much then (it was mostly private enterprise that funded so it had to make money). But we’re no longer catering for Lancashire mill workers who were happy for a long weekend in the rain to escape the drudgery of their lives.