Tourism and health equal industry wealth

"Bidding for Better" was the strap-line of this year's Business in Sport and Leisure conference which focused in on tourism-related and health-driven issues affecting the industry.

Introducing the event, BISL chairman John Brackenbury outlined a sector that employs 10 per cent of the working population and turns over £40bn a year. He went on to outline the major current concerns to the industry including the recent white paper on health, liquor licensing issues, gambling reform and employment law.

Stewart Miller, chief executive of Whitbread's David Lloyd health club brand, then described the white paper on health as an important catalyst for opening up further opportunities for leisure industry businesses to capitalise on the growing interest in the health of the nation.

This growing recognition of the importance of health would affect pubs and restaurants, he said. "People running restaurants and serving food need to recognise the importance of producing a healthier option," he continued. "You can still serve chips in your restaurants, but Whitbread is a good example where the amount of salt, sugar and fat used has been reduced by thousands of kilos each year."

Given the growing force at work behind the national health drive, pubcos that aim to ditch food and allow smoking to continue after 2008 would do well to consider the potential long-term changes being set in place in society. "After all," said Mr Miller, "it happened with car seat belts after the 'click, clunk campaign', and drink driving later on".

This picture of a healthier Britain, with huge opportunities for the leisure industry, including on-trade retailers, was then linked to the broader tourism industry by Digby Jones, director-general of the CBI.

Mr Jones (pictured)​ called on Government to put the same funding into tourism in Britain, a £70bn industry, as it did into supporting other sectors like agriculture, and also called on all businesses to support the Olympic bid for the good of the country. "This would underline a new commitment to a healthier Britain and the huge potential for the leisure sector, while encouraging and building tourism," he said.