Tourism Development Fund: Annual Report 2010.

STATES OF JERSEY

TOURISM DEVELOPMENT FUND: ANNUAL REPORT 2010

Presented to the States on 12th May 2011 by the Minister for Economic Development

STATES GREFFE

2011   Price code: C  R.53

REPORT

Message from the Chairman

I am pleased to present our report on the activities of the Tourism Development Fund in 2010.

Tourism continues to have an important place in the Jersey economy and the Fund plays  an  important  role  in  providing  finance,  advice  and  support  to  non-profit organisations that are essential to the further development of the Tourism sector. We have been encouraged by the variety and quality of the applications made during 2010 and we have had a very active year as noted in our report below.

In 2010 we boosted the membership of the Panel with the addition of Carol Canavan, Dominic Jones, Andrew Shrimpton and Steve Bailey. I would like to extend my appreciation to all the members of the Board who met frequently and contributed constructively during the year, as well as to Kevin Lemasney and the other staff members  of  the  Economic  Development  Department  for  their  excellent  work  in supporting the Fund.

As far as the future of the Fund is concerned, we remain in discussion with the Ministers for Economic Development and Treasury and Resources to secure the next round of the funding originally granted to us by the States. As soon as funds have been secured we plan to expand our remit to enable us to make grants to the private as well as the non-profit sectors of Tourism. We are confident that further funding will be forthcoming in view of the continuing importance of Tourism to our economy, and we look forward to 2011 with optimism.

As  always  we  welcome  your  comments  and  suggestions  on  the  activities  of  the Tourism Development Fund.

On behalf of the Tourism Development Fund Panel

Peter C. Funk Chairman

THE REPORT

1. Introduction

In line with the terms of the Tourism Development Fund Approved Scheme, the 2010 Annual Report is hereby submitted to the States of Jersey.

As of 31st December 2010 there were 82 projects that had received, or were receiving assistance from the Fund. Sixteen new projects were approved for funding during the year and a further 4 projects are under consideration.

2. Background to the Fund

In December 2001 the States of Jersey agreed in principle that the sum of £10 million be set aside over the following 5 years for a new Tourism Development Fund set up to replace the old Tourism Investment Fund.

The aim of the Fund is to stimulate investment in the tourism product and tourism infrastructure in order to improve Jersey's competitiveness and to sustain a flourishing tourism industry as a valuable contributor to the economy and the social fabric of the Island.

In 2003, £1,200,000 was transferred to the Fund. In 2004 and 2005, no funds were transferred and in 2006, £1,000,000 was transferred to the Fund. The Panel members remain concerned that to date so little of the agreed £10,000,000 has been provided to the Fund. They are also of the opinion that if the terms of the scheme allowed them to award grants to private sector investors it would greatly expand the number of grant applications that they would receive projects with the capacity to have greater impact on visitor numbers.

The Panel comprises: Peter Funk (Chairman), Lawrence Huggler (Vice-Chairman), Kristina  Le  Feuvre,  Andy  Cook,  Melinda  Isherwood,  Carol  Canavan,  Andrew Shrimpton, Dominic Jones and Steve Bailey. The Department is represented at officer level by Chief Executive, Mike King and Director of Tourism and Marketing, David de  Carteret,  and  the  Panel  is  supported  at  executive  level  by  Kevin  Lemasney, Economic Development.

3. Activities in 2010

The Panel met 7 times during the year. Copies of the approved minutes of each of the Panel meetings were sent to the Minister for Economic Development and the Minister for Treasury and Resources; and a Treasury Officer continues to monitor the TDF accounts.  Copies  of  the  agendas  and  the  [signed]  minutes  are  available  on www.jersey.com/business.

As outlined in the 2009 Annual Report, the Panel adopted a new approach to the awarding of funding in 2010. The Panel moved away from the old process  whereby  a  steady  stream  of  relatively  minor  projects  were considered as and when they arose. Instead, the Advisory Panel adopted a pro-active  approach  whereby,  following  advertising  and  wide-ranging promotion of the availability of funding for appropriate projects which met broad but clearly-defined criteria, potential applicants were given a

deadline  by  which  fully-detailed  applications,  complete  with  relevant business plans and future projections, were submitted.

The new approach served to sharpen' the process and enabled the Advisory Panel to identify the most appropriate projects to benefit from such funding as was available under its remit.

The  process  proved  to  be  very  successful  and  will  continue  in  2011.  Calls  for applications were sent out in March and again in September. In total, 78 applications were received in 2010, of which 16 received funding, 58 were rejected and 4 are still pending.

The following projects were approved for funding during 2010:

Details of the projects can be found in the table below, but the total amount awarded came to £222,000.

In addition to reviewing new projects, the Panel also received updates on projects that had received funding since the inception of the scheme in 2002.

4. The Future

The Panel agreed that the more pro-active approach was to be continued. It also considered  that  there  should  not  be  differentiation  between  public  and  private organisations with initiatives as, even if it transpired that the beneficial out-turn of some events or projects were to be marginal, this would still represent a positive contribution to the Island as a whole.

The Chairman of the Panel met the Minister for Economic Development, who was supportive of such a widening of the scope of the Fund; and it was suggested that proposals  should  be  developed  speedily  in  order  that  the  Minister  for  Economic Development  might  take  the  appropriate  action.  It  was  also  recognised  that  any proposal for such change would need to be accompanied by a persuasive business case.

As far as the future funding of the Fund is concerned, members of the Panel are in ongoing discussions with the Ministers for Economic Development and Treasury and Resources to secure the next round of funding. The Panel members are confident that further funding will be forthcoming in view of the continuing importance of Tourism to the economy, and they look forward to 2011 with optimism.

Accounts

Tourism Development Fund Accounts for the year ended 31st December 2010