Holiday dilemma

THE prospect of an autumn bank holiday pay day for the region’s crucial tourist industry has been welcomed by some business leaders, but the Government must take time to consider detailed evidence before making a final decision.

The main priority has to be a tourism strategy that produces the largest possible dividend over the course of 12 months, and Welcome to Yorkshire has now backed the proposed change. The organisation believes that a cash boost during the barren time between the summer and Christmas school holidays will offer relief to businesses, and improve their cash flow.

This will not be an extra bank holiday, as some have intimated, but moving one of the most lucrative breaks in the calendar – May Day. The question has to be whether the same three day break in the autumn will generate as much money.

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Most tourism businesses budget over a 12 month period to reflect their industry’s seasonal peaks and troughs. What they earn during boom months must sustain the company through the quieter periods.

There may be a long off season leading up to Christmas, but if the early May bank holiday is lost, a quiet summer could leave some tourist-dependent firms struggling. Timing is also an issue. As well as the obvious concern about the weather, there are other economic considerations. Autumn is traditionally when families tighten their belts, ahead of Christmas, so will they venture about in such numbers as the winter nights draw in?

More detailed evidence will be needed before any decision is made. Visitor numbers are not an exact science – there are so many external factors that a like-for-like comparison is almost impossible unless the same weather, holiday periods and national economic situation are replicated.

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