National Code of Practice Initiative Launched by VisitBritain

The national tourism agency for the United Kingdom has launched a new initiative to encourage England’s six thousand tourist attractions to agree to a new national code of practice.

Top quality days out for tourists will hopefully be assured if the new code is adopted. It will provide visitors with a new avenue for comments of a positive or negative nature providing important information for the industry. It is vital that the United Kingdom’s position as the fifth most popular holiday destination in the world is maintained into the future.

From the 1st April 2008 attractions that have not committed themselves to the new code of parctice or who are not participants in the Visitor Attractions Quality Assurance Service (VAQAS) will not be promoted by VisitBritan.

There are fifteen principles making up the new code which require high standards relating to provision of information for visitors including full details of opening times, amenities available, services, entry charges, etc. Full details of the new code are available on the VisitBritain website.
The National Trust, English Heritage and many other big players in the industry are fully supporting the code. Registration to the scheme costs a minimum of £25 and registration will be valid until 2010. Attractions who register will be supplied with a copy of the code for display at the point of entry. There will also be access to a benchmarking and a best practice guide. It is planned to send out regular newsletters to keep all registrants up to date.

www.visitbritain.com