THE PILGRIM Fathers may not have approved - but the hunt for an iconic building for Southampton has taken a new twist.

Incredibly, one idea is that the city's planned casino by WestQuay could be shaped like Mayflower, which famously sailed from Southampton to the New World nearly 400 years ago.

The radical suggestion was floated by city council Sheriff, Councillor Edwina Cooke, as leisure chiefs turned the spotlight on a damning report that highlighted the city's past failings to sell itself as a tourist destination.

During a council debate yesterday, as councillors wrestled with the idea of promoting the city, Cllr Cooke threw into the melting pot the idea of the Mayflower Casino.

It was an off-the-cuff remark during a good-natured and enthusiastic debate made at a meeting of the leisure, tourism and scrutiny panel, but which drew muted reactions from fellow councillors.

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Cooke said a casino shaped like Mayflower would give the city its iconic image.

She added that when she visited Las Vegas, buildings were interesting with some styled like Paris's Eiffel Tower.

She said: "They continually talk about iconic buildings. When I look at the casino down at Leisure World I think 'how dull, who would want to go in there'?

"In Las Vegas, they have some lovely buildings. It is not just about gambling. The place is interesting."

Other ideas being looked at by city bosses include buying QE2 and docking her in the city when she is decommissioned in ten years' time - or a giant new iconic building built near Mayflower Park when Town Quay is redeveloped.

Tourism bosses are looking to radically revamp how the city markets itself to the wider world - and inject Southampton with the so-called "wow factor".

The elusive, unique selling point would provide the city with an iconic image that would be used to brand Southampton to visitors.

The report dubbed "In Search of the Wow Factor" was produced following a year-long inquiry into tourism in the city by civic bosses.

In the report, the city is criticised for not having a top-class heritage centre, no joined-up thinking in marketing its assets, plus poor transport and communications.

Poor leadership and the lack of a single image to promote Southampton to the wider world were also highlighted as the reasons behind Southampton failing to capitalise on its huge hidden tourism assets.

Chairman of the inquiry team, which produced the report, Councillor Richard Harris, told members that the city was poor at publicising its heritage hidden jewels such as the medieval cellars and historic walls.

He told members how he had experienced ignorance about Southampton's assets - even among city youngsters.

He said: "Our major finding is that people who we talked to said the story of Southampton was worth telling and it should attract visitors to the city. By visitors we are not just talking about tourists, we are talking about anybody who wants to come to the city for other reasons such as business.

"Quite a lot of our heritage people called them (vaults and walls) the hidden jewels of the city and there was much agreement we needed to do something about this.

"One of the problems is what is the iconic thing that this can all be hung on. How is it that we bring all that richness into one, single iconic point?"

Cllr Harris added that the city sometimes gave the impression it was embarrassed to sell itself. People who were marketing the city were also not "singing from the same hymn sheet."

Cllr Harris revealed that during a visit to Birmingham, he had been impressed with how the city's political and business leaders were working together to promote the West Midlands city.

He called for strong leadership, both from the council and from Southampton's business community to provide a unified voice to sell Southampton.

He said: "In Birmingham, you have two very strong players, the leader of the city council and a leading local lawyer from one of the largest law firms in the country. He has street cred with the business world. The two take the lead and drive things forward.

"We need a big hitter from the commercial sector."

City council tourism and leisure chief, Councillor Peter Wakeford, told members he welcomed the report.

He agreed that there should be a business leader to promote Southampton.

He said: "We have discussed some of these things for a number of years. We all recognise the issues. This is an issue that goes right across this council.

"There is a lot of work to do. People are scared to talk the city up. We need to change that attitude. There is enough evidence here and enough work here to make that happen."

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