MARCHE Golf Day

MARCHE & the BCF

are hosting the annual Golf Tournament this year at

The Belfry

on 13th July 

PGA National Course

Betterball Stableford competition

Teams of two

Tickets include: 

Bacon baps

18 holes of golf

3 course meal

Booking ends on Monday 4th July

Please download a booking form from our website www.marche.org.uk

Ramada Encore at the Birmingham Dragonboat Festival

MARCHE Members Ramada Encore Birmingham took part in the Birmingham Dragonboat Festival 2011 on Saturday 18th June.


As first time participants they were delighted to have achieved a respectable 14th place out of 21 teams taking part.

Congratulations to the Karate Kids Team!

This is all part of Ramada Encore Birmingham's charity fund raising efforts for Birmingham Children's Hospital so if you would like to make a contribution to their noble cause, please visit their Just Giving page.

VAT & Vince Cable

We are pleased to announce an opportunity for MARCHE Members to attend the forthcoming meeting hosted by Business Voice West Midlands with the Secretary for State, Innovation & Skills ~ the Rt Hon Dr Vincent Cable, MP.

The meeting is being held in conjunction with the Parliamentary All Party Group for the West Midlands and other speakers will include : : ~

Ian Austin MP (Labour, Dudley North)

Lorley Burt MP (Solihull - Chair, Liberal Democrat Group of MPs)

Mark Garnier MP (Conservative, Wyre Forest)

The meeting will be held next week and if you would like to attend, please email the MARCHE Office for further details.

This will be an opportunity for a discussion and for you to raise issues of serious business concerns.

MARCHE CEO Hilary Hall will be raising the subject of VAT on behalf of MARCHE Members - VAT on hotel accommodation, restaurant meals and attractions.

• At 20% - UK VAT is the second highest rate in the EU
• All but two other EU countries have now recognised the importance of tourism within their economies and have set a reduced rate of VAT on hotel accommodation and several have also set a reduced rate on restaurant meals
• The BHA is now actively lobbying for a reduced rate of VAT for the hospitality industry within the next 2 - 3 years and for Government to take immediate steps to improve UK competitiveness for hospitality & tourism

Please see your recent ENews for further information on this subject and feel free to make any comments.

Your support and thoughts on this subject would be appreciated - please comment here on the blog or by email to the MARCHE Office.

Green Restaurant Awards

CONGRATULATIONS!

to the following MARCHE Members

who won awards in the 

GREEN RESTAURANT AWARDS 2011

Category 1 - Waste Management

Candidates were asked to details what initiatives have been taken to reduce waste and increase recycling

Winner ~ Oak Room Restaurant at Moor Hall Hotel

Category 2 - Energy Reduction

Candidates were asked how the restaurant is reducing energy consumption and to give details of how this was implemented and how it was measured

Winner ~ Cafe Vite at The ICC

Highly Commended ~ Aria Restaurant at The Hyatt

Category 4 - Purchasing

Candidates were asked to give details of measures used to reduce the environmental impact of goods & services selectively within their own influence

Winner ~ Opus

Highly Commended ~ Aston Villa VMF Restaurant

HS2

MARCHE CEO Hilary Hall, recently attended the Centro presentation on High Speed Rail - The Opportunity for Transport in the West Midlands.

Two documents have so far been prepared for your consideration : : 

Birmingham & Solihull

The Black Country

(click on the titles for the downloadable .pdf documents)

The details for Coventry will be available shortly, please check the Centro website for further updates.

A full meeting to collate the response from the Midlands will be held on 22nd June, so please get in touch with Hilary at the MARCHE office to give your comments and views on this important transport development.

You can email hilary@marche.org.uk or call the office on 0121 440 1892.

Summer Food Festival - 9th - 11th August 2011

Summer Food Festival

MARCHE, in partnership with The Birmingham Botanical Gardens are thrilled to be launching a very new and exciting Summer Food Festival for the Midlands.

To be held at The Birmingham Botanical Gardens from 9th - 11th of August 2011

Priority booking is currently available to MARCHE members giving YOU a fabulous opportunity to showcase bars or restaurants or take part in the Producers Village.

This brand new Festival in a unique setting is aimed at two distinct markets : :

Daytime - Families

• Giving families a special day out
• A chance for kids to find out about where and how some of their favourite ingredients are grown
• A chance to sample & purchase local produce in the Producers Village
• A range of fun food and drink related activities
• Opportunities for the grown ups too - to taste regional beers, wines & ciders

Evening - After Work Relaxation

• Live music
• Regional beers, wines & ciders to try & buy
• A chance to sample & purchase local produce in the Producers Village
• A chance to have an evening meal of speciality sample meals available from local restaurants
• Demonstrations by some of the regions top chefs

And finally - the beauty of the whole event ...

We are NOT at the mercy of the Great British Weather - the various activities can be under cover or outside!

HOORAY!!!

So, if you are interested in taking part, please contact 

the Festival Office by email (click the link) or on 0333 123 0248

Or

The MARCHE Office by email (click the link)

or on 0121 440 1892

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Tourism Statistics

The British Hospitality Association has recently published the latest tourism statistics and here they are for your info : : 


29.6 million inbound tourists to the UK
(Down 1%)


£16.7 billion spent in the UK by inbound visitors
(Up 1%)


55 million outbound British tourists heading elsewhere
(Down 5%)


£30.8 billion spent by outbound British tourists
(Down 1%)




And VisitEngland have a lot to say on the subject of the "Economic Downturn" and have recently published the results on their study The Staycation: 2011 & Beyond ~ it's not an Urban Myth ~ the Staycationers drove an uplift in holidays taken in England during 2009 and 2010 and it looks set to continue for 2011 and beyond!


The conclusions derived from the VisitEngland study are as follows : :
(these are taken directly from the VisitEngland Study)


Pessimism about the economy  and about consumers personal financial situation has increased in the last 6 months and the degree to which this is realised is bound to impact behaviour in 2011


The Staycation continued in 2010 with 2 in 10 consumers taking a break in England who would otherwise have been abroad.  This is mainly due to financial reasons but also because of the positive appeal of taking an "England" break (yippee the marketing is working!)


2011 holidays are likely to be similar to 2010


Once through the recession, people expect to start taking trips abroad again, but that is unlikely to be at the expense of an England holiday which are also expected to increase.  It is the 4 - 7 night trips that are going to be the key battleground.


18 - 34 year olds and families in particular are likely to keep taking their hols in England and (this is the great bit) their reasons for doing so are to explore new places and have hassle-free holidays so the VisitEngland message is to tap into this market with communications to convert intent to action, but remember "value perceptions" are still a challenge.

For more details on this information, do have a look at the VisitEngland Study