Another
report that took some time to track down. This report
from Price Waterhouse Coopers evaluates the Spanish
government's IMSERSO project which last year helped over
700,000 Spanish OAPs access a shoulder season holiday at the
Spanish coast. The report shows that for every Euro
invested in the programme, the Spanish government generated
an additional 1.8 Euros in tax revenue. Clearly,
700,000 OAPs charging off to the seaside generates a
considerable amount of economic activity that both produces
additional employment and helps extend the employment season
for many other seasonal workers.
The evaluation also
makes clear that PwC didn't look at the cost-saving
implications to the Spanish health service which they felt
could be significant with the expected health benefits of a
holiday being enjoyed by such a large group of senior
citizens.
Latest news 5 June 2007
Social
tourism consortium
launched at joint UNISON and FHA forum
"We believe too many
people are excluded from the benefits provided by even a simple break
away from home. Together we will work to promote social tourism
for the improved well-being and happiness of society"
A wide range of organisations including travel companies signed the
above declaration supporting the promotion of social tourism in the
UK. The forum heard from Gordon Marsden, MP for Blackpool, a
senior UNISON official and representatives of travel companies Butlins
and Haven.
FHA Director, John McDonald, said "There was general agreement that
the issue of social tourism had to be pushed up the political agenda
and that to do so it would be better if we worked together."
It was agreed that a working party
of interested organisations would meet to consider how best a
consortium would work and to report back at a meeting to be scheduled
in the next few months.
If you would like to be kept up to
date about the work of the consortium - please let us know -
click here.
Listen to what people had to say at the forum
Gordon Marsden,
MP for Blackpool, talks about the importance of social tourism
Valerie Wigfall of the Thomas
Coram Institute talks about her introduction to social
tourism.
Families
enjoy a break in Belgium
The
Family Holiday Association has been working over the past
few years with a number of European organisations active in
promoting the benefits of holidays for disadvantaged
families. Out of this work, small groups of British,
French and Belgian families will get the chance to enjoy
holidays in the other countries - for many families this
will be their first holiday and their first time in another
country.
Already a group of
French families have enjoyed a week at Butlins in Bognor
Regis where they sampled the delights of the British
seaside. And in October a small group of
families enjoyed a five-day break in Belgium thanks to our
partnership with the Flanders Tourist Office.
A number of visits
are planned for 2007 including two small groups of British
families holidaying in France and Belgium. For more
information on our co-operation with the Flanders Tourist
Office and the French charity Vacances Ouverts please e-mail
tjoldersma@fhaonline.org.uk.
"my very favourite chocolate country..."
Hear
what a London mum, her daughter and her daughter's
friend had to say about their trip in October
last year
to Flanders.
Listen to
this Mum
her
daughter Sarah
and
Sarah's friend Ciara
Joint forum with UNISON discusses the benefits of holidays
Holidays have a significant impact on health, inclusion and
economics according to speakers at a gathering at the King's
Fund on Tuesday 3rd October.
The forum organised jointly by the Family Holiday
Association and UNISON, Britain's largest trade union,
brought together speakers from BITS (the International
Bureau of Social Tourism), the Family Fund and UNISON.
The presentations from the three organisations were
supplemented by contributions from the floor, including an
academic perspective from Professor Scott McCabe of
Sheffield Hallam University.
In addition the meeting learned the results of a survey of
almost 300 welfare agents that asked about their clients
needs regarding holidays, the benefits a holiday provided and the welfare agents knowledge of "social tourism".
Copies of the various presentations and a summary of the
survey results are available for download by using the links
below. Listen to the audio featuring interviews with
participants available
below.
Audio & Download
Forum papers -
Survey results -
Press release -
Listen to
interviews with the speakers and Thea Joldersma, the FHA
Policy Programme Manager
Thea Joldersma, Policy and
Programme Manager at the Family Holiday Association
Listen
to what some of the other attendees had to say about the benefits of holidays and the importance of social tourism.
Barcelona Declaration - the "miracle" of social
tourism
Charles
Belanger from BITS also discussed a newly published opinion
paper from the European Economic and Social Committee, an
EU organisation. Published on the 14
September, the Barcelona Declaration is an important
statement on the importance of social tourism and the need
for it to be more comprehensively adopted throughout the EU.
It goes
on to say "we
can dub social tourism a "miracle" in that all the
practitioners and users obtain all kinds of benefits:
economic, social, health, employment, European citizenship …
no one is harmed by this activity … the bottom line is that
it would be difficult to find a human economic activity that
is so universally recognised and supported."
A copy of this significant paper can be downloaded in pdf
form
.
Learn more about social tourism
-
click here.
Latest news - 25 July2006 Important 1976 report now
available online!
A 1976 report from the
Social Tourism Study Group recently surfaced following a
chance conversation between FHA Director, John McDonald, and
Sue Finch, Chief Executive of the Tourism Society.
Thirty years ago, Sue had been the secretary to the group
and had kept a dog-eared copy of the report.
The FHA has had a long
interest in the document since it was mentioned in the 1976
Guardian article that helped launch the charity as a
national organisation but had never been able to find a copy
of the report which had been jointly sponsored by the
English Tourist Board and the Trades Union Congress.
"The report is a fascinating read," commented John McDonald,
"thirty years ago they were saying everything about
holidays, their benefits and their importance, that the FHA
says today. But it seems, for some reason, that the
findings of the report were ignored here in the UK while, at
the same time, the rest of Europe forged ahead with helping
improve access to holidays for the most disadvantaged."
Commons dinner sees
holidays on the menu for discussion
"Let me
see if I can talk to Gordon Brown about this", was a comment
one Labour MP made on the evening of Monday 6 March at the
Family Holiday Association dinner in the House of Commons.
Professor Richard Layard addressed a gathering that included
six MPs and well-known commentator Cristina Odone on the
subject of happiness.
The
Professor linked the importance of access to holidays to
what he considered the three key elements that produce
happiness: - self-respect, a strong family and personal
competence.
He
considered it important people have sufficient funds to be
able to afford even a simple holiday; he felt that a holiday
can have a real impact on the well-being of the family unit
; and that being able to organise and go on holiday gives
people a real feeling of achievement.
The
discussion that followed had MPs from both main political
parties making contributions. John McDonald, Director of the FHA, said "We were
delighted with this our first major attempt to influence
politicians about the importance of holidays. We were
able to share with them the results of a survey of nearly
300 welfare agents which showed just how important holidays
are considered by people whose job it is to help
disadvantaged families.
The survey also provided respondents the opportunity to
pass on a message to the politicians attending the dinner -
we received over 160 powerful messages! We passed them on!"
He also warmly thanked
First Great Western for their financial support for the
event.
“Holidays are
a vital event in personal well-being. It is tragic
that so many people still have no holidays away from home.”
Professor Richard Layard, author of
Happiness: Lessons of a New Science.
Survey results and
comments
Results of the survey can be viewed on line by clicking
here and a pdf of the comments can be downloaded by
clicking
here.
Latest news - 17 January 2006
One in three children miss out on even a
basic one-week holiday
Family Holiday Association addresses a
meeting of the EU Commission.
On Tuesday 17 January in Brussels John
McDonald, Director of the
Family Holiday Association, informed the Commission that
nearly one in three families in the UK were not able to
afford a holiday last year; that 60% of single parents and
20% of couples with children missed out on even a simple
one week break away from home; and that over two million
children live in families that cannot pay for a day trip
to the seaside.
He went on to tell the meeting, which
included representatives from over 20 countries, that the
UK lagged behind the rest of Europe in providing help to
disadvantaged families that would help them access
holidays despite the well-understood benefits holidays.
The Commission were also presented with a leaflet produced
in conjunction with two other European social tourism
organisations from
France and
Belgium respectively. Copies of the leaflet can
be down loaded here in
English,
French and
Flemish.
Read the official EU minutes of the
meeting click
here
To receive information from the FHA on a range of
subjects,
use our e-mail update service.
Just
enter your e-mail address
Latest news -
6 May 2005
Working together to increase access to
holidays for families on a low income
Each year
about a million families in the United Kingdom are
excluded from taking a holiday because of poverty and yet
recent research suggests that Britain lags behind mainland
Europe in provision.
The Family
Holiday Association has launched an initiative together
with social tourism partners in Belgium, France and The
Netherlands, and would like to work with other
organisations to promote access to holidays for low-income
families and place social tourism onto the policy agenda.
At the
latest meeting of the
BITS European Commission in Budapest there was
widespread support to take this idea further. If
your organisation is interested in working with us then
please contact Thea Joldersma, FHA Programme & Policy
Manager at
tjoldersma@fhaonline.org.ukfor
more information.
Putting social
tourism* on the UK policy agenda
Following the first
successful Policy
and Programme forum last year, a second
forum was held in London on Tuesday 8 February 2005.
With speakers from the French organisation, ANCV, that manages
the highly successful cheque-vacances scheme; the Flanders
Tourist Office; and the
Policy Research Bureau, the forum looked at how
the concept of social tourism is poorly understood in the UK and how that
might be rectified.
A fuller report of the
forum will be posted shortly but if you would like to see
the presentations from the Flanders Tourist Office, ANCV
from France, and the Policy Research Bureau please click on the
links below to download the relevant pdf.
Another
report that took some time to track down. This report
from Price Waterhouse Coopers evaluates the Spanish
government's IMSERSO project which last year helped over
700,000 Spanish OAPs access a shoulder season holiday at the
Spanish coast. The report shows that for every Euro
invested in the programme, the Spanish government generated
an additional 1.8 Euros in tax revenue. Clearly,
700,000 OAPs charging off to the seaside generates a
considerable amount of economic activity that both produces
additional employment and helps extend the employment season
for many other seasonal workers.
