Public: private partnership and best practice in urban destination marketing

Abstract

Introduction them Bath was pre-eminent. In Bath, the private sector provided the hotels, shops and gambling dens; In this short article, I want to focus on two linked the city government provided a major attraction matters public: private partnership (PPP) as the assembly rooms where visitors could drink the spa modus operandi of urban destination marketing, on waters and be entertained. The municipal authority the one hand, and best practice in city marketing, on also employed a Master of Ceremonies to manage the other. My central thesis is that both matters go the reputation of Bath as a spa town, in particular for hand in hand. In my experience, best practice in mulating rules and conventions to ensure tourists con urban destination marketing is nearly always associducted themselves properly. The first such occupant of ated with PPPs. I would go as far as saying PPP in this position was Richard 'Beau' Nash who took up tourism is a pre-condition of best practice in city maroffice in 1705. He has rightly been called Bath's first keting. PPP does not cause best practice, but it will not tourism officer; the precursor of today's city tourism happen without it. For this reason, I am a long-time, organisation which is called Bath Tourism Plus. Over passionate believer that city-based tourist offices and time, the form and content of the marketing, commu convention bureaux should be constituted, financed, nications and visitor servicing activities undertaken in structured and run as PPPs. Bath has undergone change, sometimes dramatically To understand the relationship between PPP and so as with that occasioned by the web and internet best practice in city marketing, we must first apprecilate on in the twentieth century, but the fundamental ate the reasons for public and private sector involveneeds being satisfied remain constant. Nash created ment in urban destination marketing. Throughout the and serviced visitors and safeguarded city reputation, world, the public and private sector are actively seekjust as Bath Tourism Plus is doing three hundred and ing to raise the profile of towns and cities and to genso years later. erate visitors to them. The private sector is involved Bath Tourism Plus is a PPP: a not-for-profit coming for reasons of private profit and the public sector for together of local government and the private sector. As reasons we might best describe as community wellsuch, it has over 450 fee-paying private sector mem being. In a nutshell, raising destination profile and bers and its governance is discharged through a volun generating visitors enhances the life chances and liveteer board of directors who are representative of the lihoods of the urban dwellers city governments reprecommercial members and the local authority the sent. In particular, jobs are created and supported by Bath and North East Somerset Council. The assump tourist spending. Cities, it needs to be emphasised, tion of destination marketing responsibilities from the are the predominant foci of tourist spending. In the local authority dates from October 2003. In that Stockholm region, for instance, tourist spending month, the local government authority effectively 'let amounted to £2.13 billion in 2009, of which go'of urban destination marketing responsibilities and 68 per cent was attributable to the city and the remainput its trust and resourcing into a new PPP. Annual der to its rural hinterland. turnover is currently in the region of £2.35 million, with the public sector share standing at 20 per cent reputedly the lowest for a city tourist and convention