Islands’ Partnership AGM – 22nd October 2015
Chairman’s Report 2015
Welcome to all of you, thank you for attending our 2015 AGM and giving up your time.
Hopefully today will be a valuable use of your time because it is an opportunity for us to take stock
and see where we have come from in the last 12 months, but more importantly to see where all of
us, the Islands’ Partnership, are heading towards in 2016 and beyond.
You see me here speaking to you today because since our last AGM, Chris Gregory has moved to
take on more responsibility with the Duchy and therefore unable to commit to the demands
required in guiding the I.P. into the future. We have also said goodbye to Director Alasdair Moore
and to our Co-ordinator Amanda Pender, all of whom have contributed so much to the I.P’s first
years.
For my sins, the Directors elected me as vice chairman and hence with Chris’s departure speak to
you today as acting chairman.
It is however the collective wish of your board of Directors that we seek a chair and possibly one or
two ambassadors from outside Scilly, but with an empathy for the special nature and value of these
Islands. Your board comprises individuals from within the Islands who have business here and
sometimes we need to embrace the bigger picture. We have not yet decided who we will look to to
fulfil this role, but will be continuing our search for the right person or persons to bring an extra
strength to the Partnership, whether it be links to government, financial acumen or other attributes.
It is however clear that our challenges do not go away, even with the immense strides we have
made and in order to thrive as a community into the future we have to be a step ahead and drive
forward not only our tourism offer but help drive forward further innovation, quality and success
from our businesses.
It would be helpful if we could have input from you, our fellow members as to how you would like
the I.P. to help you grow your businesses further and if you have a view about the chair or
ambassadors that might add a positive dimension.
We have this year as you are aware already received a very positive new dimension with the
appointment of David Jackson as our Executive Director. So refreshing is David’s appointment, not
only just because of the huge commitment and delivery of initiatives he has already made, but he
has settled here with his family and his wife Lisa is teaching in the school.
This year we have;
Received almost 700,000 enquiries to our new website – a 30% increase on last year.
Achieved nearly 40,000 signed up email addresses and our reach & influence continues to grow.
Distributed 30,000 of our Visit Isles of Scilly award winning brochure, highlighting the continued
need for quality print.
Research has showed far more active requests for the guide as opposed to less targeted distribution
and has also shown the guide has really helped prospective visitors plan their holiday on Scilly.
Press coverage at an all time high with a solid increase in effective press coverage at huge value
compared to advertising. The cover story and 3 page travel feature in the Guardian was a particular
stand out.
1st choice for Family Traveller magazine, their readers choosing Scilly as No. 1 UK destination for
families.
Last week our brochure won the British Destinations award and two of our members, Sylina
Guesthouse & The Wheelhouse B&B were awarded Rose awards, an accolade only bestowed on the
very best, Top 100 accommodation offers in the country. Huge congratulations to Sam & Paul and
Dan & Jen on this fantastic achievement.
But ultimately, what’s most encouraging of all is the fact that this momentum of partnership working
is having a real effect and I’m delighted to say for a second year running, visitor numbers are up
again by 9%. This is despite the fact we have faced very mixed summer weather at best, with much
travel disruption, so a great achievement.
2015 has also been a record year for visiting cruise ships. 45 ships, over 18,000 passengers and the
warmest of welcomes from our band of volunteer ambassadors – something that we know was
hugely appreciated and I’m sure will have helped to tempt many to return for longer next time. I
would like to put on record our gratitude to the team of ambassadors – all of whom have given their
time for free to help meet and greet passengers throughout the season. Thank you all.
Anecdotally and perhaps most importantly, we hear that so many of you have seen the benefit of
these increases in visitors too, with accommodation occupancy up and trading buoyant.
And – what’s more, we hear forward bookings are already well up for 2016. It certainly feels like we
are heading in the right direction.
So, looking forward – and you’ll hear more about this from David later – suffice it to say there is
more cause for optimism on the horizon.
The Events Programme that is being developed for next year thanks to the Coastal Communities
Fund offers real opportunities for businesses to get involved and make the most of these events and
the additional marketing for the islands.
Thanks to a one-off fund from the government to encourage more overseas visitors to explore
beyond London, the South West region will benefit from a £5m investment in overseas marketing
over the next 6 months – which, thanks to the IP, will include Scilly.
As many of you will know – and you can hear more about this later this afternoon if you are able to
visit this afternoon’s drop in session from 2 O’clock – the latest round of European funding is just
being launched. Again, there are significant opportunities here for both Scilly and businesses on the
islands to capitalise on this.
And of course, there’s the IP’s own marketing activity and plans for 2016 which will continue to raise
awareness of the Scilly brand and drive more visitors to you, our members.
But…
Despite having reached almost 300 members once again this year, we are starting to hear businesses
asking ‘why should I renew’ or ‘I don’t need to advertise, I’m already very busy’.
However, the key question of course is Why are you busy…?
It’s important to remember that we all have a role to play in supporting and nurturing this recovery.
Without wishing to copy Chris’s horticultural analogies from last year – it is true nevertheless that
just because there are green shoots emerging, doesn’t mean you can stop the watering!
We all know that the economy on Scilly is dependent upon tourism. When Scilly is busy and visitor
numbers are high, everyone benefits.
Now I’m not going to sit here and try to claim that the recovering tourist trade is down to the
Islands’ Partnership alone. But it is playing a major part. But it is not just about gaining new visitors
to the Islands it is about retaining them in future years and turning them into our ambassadors. To
enable that, we have to improve a number of key issues. We have much to do to further improve
our transport offer, reliability, connectivity, affordability and scope. We have to embrace the
weekend market and improve the experience for our visitors whether it be Newquay Airport or
Penzance Quay. It is about improvement to our customer service, doing what we need to do to
please our visitors, not ourselves, and we need your help too in order to deliver on these issues.
Service to our customers is key to our future success.
Today, I am preaching to the converted, I hope! You are all signed up members. We need you also to
be our ambassadors, to champion the need for a partnership approach. It is working, we have
proved that, but there are still businesses in the Islands and outside who are benefiting from all of
our commitment yet not contributing. Please help us bring them into the partnership which will help
strengthen & spread the costs more fairly.
I would like to thank your directors for the effort they have put in and the time they have committed
voluntarily, but the hard graft has been put in by David and our team. Please remember that if you
feel we are falling short in any way or you have issues you would like us to deal with on your behalf,
the I.P Team’s door is always open and they or indeed any of the directors will be pleased to help.
Thank you to you, our members for your continued support. Let’s maintain this momentum and
work together to continue this growth and its benefits for Scilly.