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A TOURISM guru has urged Scarborough to ‘adapt or die’ if it is to attract visitors to the town.
Iain Hawkins is one of the driving forces behind Blackpool’s incredible resurgence, from forgotten relic into a major “global brand”.
Addressing the Tourism Forum on Tuesday, he said that Scarborough, currently the third most visited place in the whole of the UK, could lose that status if it fails to take a leaf out of Blackpool’s book in encouraging new markets and luring attractions to the town.
He stated that “serious investment” would be needed for Scarborough to try to match Blackpool, and that if Scarborough wants to advance, the council “must play a vital role”.
He urged Scarborough Council to take risks, saying: “Blackpool has had quite a few bloody noses over the last few years, but that shouldn’t put you off.
“They need to have a long term plan. What this is is not just building a few attractions and hoping they last 25 years. It’s about building things that last.”
Mr Hawkins has helped reinvigorate Blackpool by utilising its iconic attractions, such as the Tower, Pleasure Beach theme park and its piers, promoting them to the world, and attracting major attractions to the town, including Madame Tussauds and a state-of-the-art Sea Life Centre.
As a result of the turnaround, Blackpool has been able to secure substantial private investment, and has secured year-round attractions such as the final of Strictly Come Dancing, guaranteeing trade throughout the year.
Mr Hawkins also feels the council must not look to dismiss the “stag and hen market”.
He admitted that people “don’t want to see people be sick”, but said measures can be implemented to control any problems they create. He said: “The way you do it, is you manage it, and control the people who are drunk, dressed as bananas. But it’s good to have bananas – they bring a lot of money to the town.”
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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Comments
There are 48 comments to this article
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local?
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 10:34 PM...Also, we don't particularly need 'attractions' in my opinion. We need to make the place beautiful again. Beautiful and of very high quality ( by this I mean architecture, decor, service ect.) and this will be attraction enough.
local?
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 10:28 PM#46; I do think there are beautiful parts of Scarborough. This is because I know where to look for them. Likewise there are beautiful parts of many less desirable towns. I've lived in lots of places in England for several years at a time and though Scarborough isn't the worst, it certainly isn't one of he best, which dissapiontingly, it could be. I was merely taking the stance of an outside onlooker as the topic is about tourism. As for the comment about disengagement and desolation - how often do you talk to people who aren't from here about Scarborough in general? Try forgetting for a minute that you're from Scarborough ( if in fact you are ) and take a long objective look at the general mass in town one day. Then go to Brighton for a day trip and do the same thing. You might understand where I'm coming from.
Louloulou
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 12:30 PMScarborough is beautiful number 45,the list of shops you have mentioned as being "tacky" may not be high class style shops but take a look at the majority of the town centres around the UK and you will find a huge amount of empty premises and high streets that are dying,Scarborough in comparison is thriving and i for one think its great we are having new places open here like poundstretcher etc,better than "To Let" signs everywhere,closed shutters and graffitti! We have a great town that im very proud of,i love living here,your comments about the tourists in summer are ridiculous,theres a wide range of tourists visiting here,mainly nice couples and families,because its a nice friendly place to visit and kids love it,theres something for everyone.You obviously are yet another local with nothing but negativity on the town,you are the one disengaged with desolation behind your eyes in my opinion,its time you appreciated the town and did something positive rather than making negative comments on here.I agree Scarborough could benefit from a few new attractions but i am in disbelief at reading such comments,suggestion maybe move to Brighton then?
local?
Monday, February 6, 2012 at 10:48 PM'...Scarborough is beautiful...' Rendezvous, Coral bookmakers, Sports Direct, Comet, Poundstretcher soon! Some shops that have been empty for a few years, Scoops! Cash Converters, Jewsons, Aldi, The Court and the Police Station, Bon Marche, Pounland, Brighthouse, Priceless shoes, Savers, Poundworld, all within 200m. of the station. Beautiful! But not tacky, no. You can tell by looking at South Bay in the summer. What more could you want from a seafront than soulless Stepford cafes, shops selling statuettes of tigers or Adult toys or replica medieval broadswords to hang on your wall or decorative plates with a wolf howling at the moon with a native American Indian's face in it all served up by disengaged locals with desolation behind thier eyes. Its all the holiday makers from Middlesborough and Bradford who's parents were actually brother and sister want as they waddle along eating thier football sized ice creams and laughing at the stag and hen parties hilariuosly horsing around dressed in thier mankinis and naughty nun outfits. But no, we don't want to emulate Blackpool. Brighton or St Ives maybe, but not Blackpool.
I read the news today, oh boy
Sunday, February 5, 2012 at 03:48 PMI think proper transport connections would help both the prospects for non-seasonal employment and what remains of the tourist industry, whether this be the dualled A64 or the East Coast Motorway as 41 suggests. Both are beyond the powers of SBC acting alone, hence the futility of Hawkins's preaching, and both are of course equally unlikely. However, as 42 and 43 point out, there is much the council could be doing to improve the non-touristy economy of the town, but - and this is my real point - they remain obsessed by the notion that tourism is the town's only possible route (back?) to prosperity, a view encouraged by flat-earthers like Mr Hawkins and his acolytes, and the result of this self-deception is inevitable stagnation followed by slow decline. There will always be people who want to visit Scarborough, and some residual but low level tourism will endure for a very long time I'm sure, but the days of the family holiday at the seaside are long gone and with it the days of a town that could afford to rely entirely on holidaymakers for its bread and butter. No "tourism guru" can bring those days back. Scarborough does need to adapt (though I'm not so sure about the "or die" bit), but not in anything like the way Hawkins suggests.
millavanilla
Sunday, February 5, 2012 at 01:39 PM42 - SBC doesn't get the business rates they collect them on behalf of the govt who then gives the council money back in a grant that bears no connection to the amount collected. This may be changing- but not yet and if it does it'll be connected to growth- so the more investment the more locally available in money.
Tim Thorne
Sunday, February 5, 2012 at 01:26 PM"we need growth, jobs and investment outside the tourism sector" Yeah, but which mug of a business man will invest in a town that doesn't invest in itself? If the business needs road transport links then this really isn't the place to be. I bet that rules out 50% of businesses? SBC should be actively scouting around businesses, meeting them face to face, discussing concerns, helping them make tricky decisions about relocation by chopping business rates in half or more to get firms into the area. I get the feeling SBC are on the lookout for sentimental sugar daddies with deep pockets.
badger464
Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 11:52 PMThe A64 is the wrong road to duel, what is needed is a fast link to the M62 and the motorway network to the south and west, somewhere close to the junction with the M18. If a proper link could also made to Teeside then Scarborough and many other towns between Hull and Middlesbrough would find themselves on the commercial map and no longer be subject to the logistics costs of being located at the end of a dead end road. As for people from York, well they don't like cars there anyway we could offer them a cycle path to the coast :)
guesticulate
Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 07:47 PMThere is nothing much wrong with Scarborough as it is. I would suggest that if there is anything that will put tourists off coming and will stop it from growing it is stories such as the drug gang jailed one that appeared today. Such Manchurian scum should not be allowed to mix with the town idiots and get them selling their evil wares.
I read the news today, oh boy
Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 06:15 PMAh 38, such a long journey from "adapt or die" to "Tourism is a part of the whole that Scarborough has to offer", and you have made it in such a short space of time, well done, there is hope for you yet. Try and understand even further, there are many people in the town who do not earn their living from tourism, who do not believe "all year round tourism" is the answer to the town's problems, who want to see sustainable jobs created, not the minimum-wage 6-months-a-year macjobs that have blighted the place since I was a schoolboy. But above all, we don't need people to lecture us about what we already know.
Scarborough Compass
Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 05:29 PMTourism is a part of the whole that Scarborough has to offer. All sectors need support and encouragement. The all year round is starting to happen even if from a low base. As I said in 35 the debate is great to see.
I read the news today, oh boy
Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 03:44 PMScarborough Compass, with all respect I think you are missing the point, just like your mate the "guru". What the town needs is not "all year round tourism", even if such a daft notion were possible, we need growth, jobs and investment outside the tourism sector. Everyone in the town - other than those in the tourist business - knows this. Post 25 says it like it is, why not employ Spy as a consultant and say to the "well respected manager", thanks but we have had a bellyfull of advisers, consultants and gurus telling us what's wrong with the town, what we need now is action, not yet more words.
heavensentmum
Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 02:41 PMWe're half way there already, Blackpools multi-million pound prom is crumbling months after opening, they have a council who wastes money and don't listen, no one is held accountable when things go wrong, They issue Alcohol licences without due care and consideration. All we need is a wedding chapel and we will be the Blackpool of the North East. No thanks. I wonder how many of the Cllrs in Blacpool have businesses which rely on tourists?
Scarborough Compass
Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 12:08 PMGrowth and sustainabilty can go together if done in the right way. There were ideas at the meeting we can share and get debate going. It looks like it succeeded......
Scarboroughgossip
Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 11:58 AMAnyone who holds Blackpool up as a a way forward for Scarborough, just doesn't know or care about Scarborough. It is a place of diversity, attracting lots of people with varying interests. Blackpool is cheap and tacky. Who would want to emulate those traits. Scarborough attracts a variety of visitors and this balance keeps the place desirable for many people. If you want more visitors, go more up market, not down!
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