At a more local level, and given the increasingly-competitive nature of the hospitality industry, forward planning is a pre-requisite for commercial success. Christmas may still be weeks away, but restaurateurs and hoteliers need to be thinking now about the new year’s new opportunities.
The trouble is that, aside from fixtures like Valentine’s Day and the May bank holidays, there is currently very little to go on.
In Bournemouth, we are told, a brand new coastal activity park is on its way, but that’s about all the prior information we have. Plans are afoot for a major new event – Wheels – celebrating all forms of wheeled transport. Again, we currently know very little about it.
And if we only know a little, it’s a fair bet that potential visitors to the town know even less.
Once the Christmas hangovers have subsided and the January pay-cheques have eased the credit card pain, people will start to “look to book” spring breaks and summer holidays.
The hospitality industry needs to be ready for action and, at the moment, that’s proving very difficult. On the information super-highway, Bournemouth seems stuck in the slow lane.