19th January 2021

Tom Buncle has dusted off the Yellow Railroad crystal ball to identify twelve of the most potent influences likely to shape the resurgence of travel in 2021 – one for every month of the year.

Pfizer/BioNTech, Astra Zeneca and Moderna are being touted as the ‘get-out-of-jail’ cards for a return to normal life. And 2021 looks like being the year when we will surface into the light of a new future from the gloom of COVID-19 and its associated restrictions. But what will vaccinat…

28th April 2020

Tom Buncle, Yellow Railroad, has written a second in a series of blogs about the future of tourism following coronavirus.   It is well worth a read.
 

Many consider prediction strictly ‘for the birds’…….but which bird? After this virus is over, will tourism die a death like the dodo? Or will it be reborn like a phoenix in a form we can’t even contemplate at the moment? As ever, the answer probably lies somewhere in between these two extremes. But it does seem we are in the midst…

18th February 2021

The following notes are taken from the discussions during the TMI zoom call on 28^th January and comments received in advance of the event. We have tried to summarise the key points and issues.

We are very keen to hear your views on what  you think we should do next? Particularly members who have expertise they’d like to offer to discuss a particular issue and to consider how we jointly solve some of the challenges? If you have any thoughts or comments on ways in which the To…

17th March 2021

Are you looking forward to the end of June and possible lifting of lockdown, or focusing on November?

Why would I even mention November when we’re still living day to day, week to week? Over the last year planning anything in advance has been hard. Many of us are struggling to think beyond the end of lockdown. Remember when we talked about ‘build back better’?

Most of us are just content to still be here, let alone full of energy for creating new ways of working. But I do thin…

Whilst “zoom”, “pivot” and “unprecedented” might be the words of the moment, “staycation” can’t be too far behind, with nearly every travel programme, article and blog highlighting the fact that staycations are the only game in town for the UK tourism industry this year.

In truth, UK destinations have benefitted not only from 28% inbound visitor growth in the eight years between 2011 and 2019, but also, according to VisitBritain, from 18% growth in domestic tourism trips within Great Britain ov…

13th March 2020

Tom Buncle, Yellow Railroad, has written a very informative and interesting blog on Coronavirus and the TMI is featuring it here as a guest blog this month.

It feels strange to be writing about the impact of Coronavirus on the world economy when its full anticipated impact on the health of the country from which I write, the UK, has yet to be felt. But it has already had a significant impact on business around the world, and not least the travel business. How it will pan out re…

8th November 2019

It is with great sadness that I share the news that Peter Dahl died on 22 October 2019. Peter was the first President of TMI, first ever Fellow of TMI, and the man who, more than anyone else, steered this organisation through its transition from British Association of Tourism Officers (BATO) to its incorporation as TMI in May 1997. All this whilst carrying on the day job first as Deputy Director, then Director of Leisure and Amenities at Scarborough Borough Council. It was a p…

28th May 2019

My placement was completed at Cromford Mills (Derbyshire), and I was lucky enough to be offered a paid role with them following this. Cromford was Sir Richard Arkwright’s first mill that opened in 1771, and the world’s first successful water powered cotton spinning mill. The site has moved on since Arkwright’s time and is now a visitor attraction with a café. My role is as a Visitor Engagement Assistant (VEA), and it’s very exciting to be stood somewhere where 100’s of mill worker…

11th March 2019

Simon was always very passionate about his career in Tourism and Heritage and a true professional, so it is only fitting to reflect on the many projects that Simon was involved in during his career, and the immense impact that he has had on so many of his work colleagues, many of whom are here today.

Simon started his career in 1989 as a tourism consultant at Touche Ross, (a company which subsequently merged with Deloitte). This was following a degree in Geography – (a subject,…