Strategic Planning for Tourism and Leisure: Role of BIDs and Historic Buildings

Strategic Planning For
Tourism and Leisure

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
PART 1............................................................................................................................................3
A. Concept of BID.......................................................................................................................3
B. Role of BID in strategic planning ..........................................................................................6
PART 2..........................................................................................................................................10
A. Historic building example.....................................................................................................10
B. Contribution to strategic tourism development by reusing historic buildings......................14
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................16
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................17
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INTRODUCTION
Travel and tourism is one particular business sector that involves utilisation of extra
income in terms of leisure activities. Individuals like exploring new destinations and places that
are popular for their scenic beauties. The economic contribution of this sector to the gross
domestic product of UK is quite large. When strategic development and planning activities are
initiated then country's international position would improve. This report aims to provide
knowledge and information regarding the concept of Business Improvement Districts with
detailed description about their role and influence in the strategic planning of tourism and leisure
activities.
Furthermore, the report would cover the benefits which are acquired by local areas and
communities with existence of a historic building or monument i.e. The Tower Bridge. The
historic places or destinations are the only source of information regarding the past culture and
historic developments. The contribution of this destination in strategic tourism development of
London and surrounding areas has also been described in this report.
PART 1
A. Concept of BID
BID is the annotation used for Business Improvement District. The government of a
country has to keep on making strategic plans and target certain areas which require development
in some form or the other. BID is defined as this particular area in which enterprises have to pay
extra taxes so that developmental projects falling in these areas can be funded. The local
businesses working or trading in this geographical area together agree over certain policies and
invest so that appropriate or required monetary funds can be collected for the concerned project
(Phillips and Moutinho, 2014). Travel and tourism sector requires customer to spend their extra
income for leisure and entertainment activities. If they are not satisfied with the kind of services
provided by businesses in this sector, then significant reduction can be experienced. This further
leads to deterioration in the economic growth of the country.
The public and private sector organisations functioning predominantly in London can
contribute equally to the business improvement districts and other such development activities.
The BIDs are also referred as business improvement areas (BIA), business revitalisation zone
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(BRZ), community improvement district (CID), etc. (Ghasemi, Kamranifar and Hayati, 2015).
Often there are certain aspects which are not considered by the government as part of
development or often their strategic implementation fails in these areas. Businesses gather funds
for such development activities and initiate progress. The nature of tasks or functions in BID can
be cleaning streets, managing electricity, different types of small scale constructions, etc. The
funds for such exercises are gathered through existing capitals or tax revenues (Smith, 2013).
Following are some of the Business Improvement Districts of London with their
characteristics type:
 Angel London – High street/town centre
 Argall Avenue – Industrial
 Euston Town – High street/ town centre
the processing or initialisation of a BID differs from one particular region to another.
This difference is created on the basis of requirements and the government structures (Greiner
and et. al., 2014). The concept of this kind of economic and social development is prevalent in
countries like Australia, United Kingdom, Albania, etc. Following is the strategic process of
activating a Business Improvement District:
Step 1: A petition or request is filed by the local businesses and communities regarding
their needs and requirements which is forwarded to the government.
Step 2: Local government intervenes in the matter and evaluates whether majority
businesses are agreeing over this subject. Furthermore, the validation of request is assessed.
Step 3: Legislation is enforced or developed by the local government and the BID is
created only if all the legal and political requirements are fulfilled. The authorisation is granted
for creating respective BID (Peyroux, Pütz and Glasze, 2012).
England and Wales have such developmental or improvement areas which are funded by
levy i.e. the additional tax which is paid by residing businesses and trade processes. The UK
government doesn't allow development of a BID unless and until there is straight majority in the
concerned subject. The Local Government Act 2003 is governing the activities which are related
and concerned with a BID. There are many more subsequent legislations that have been provided
by the government of the country so that operational benefits of the concept can be acquired by
the citizens in an ethical manner (Jacobs, 2012).
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