Destination Britain
Sep 2007
As environmental groups and government figures pile on the pressure to holiday at home, we look at what Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) are doing to brighten Britain's beaches, towns and cities in an effort to re-engage the British public and draw tourists away from London to the rest of the country. Visions of gaudy seaside escapades in the likes of Blackpool and Bognor Regis are being shelved as consumers become increasingly aware of the need to do their bit and reduce carbon footprints by holidaying in Britain.
Gordon Brown toasted his premiership with a British holiday this year - quite a contrast to the Barbados holidays of Tony Blair. Communities Secretary Hazel Blears and Culture Secretary James Purnell are also expected to holiday in Britain this year. We've considered this trend from various angles: targeting Brit nationals and targeting foreign tourists; preparing for the peak season and promoting regions on a longer-term scale to local inhabitants.
Scotland in particular is working to cultivate an image based on its traditional heritage and RDAs are thinking outside the box to promote the country's regional hotspots to new demographics. We've reported on moves by Scottish tourism officials who are using the Internet to challenge preconceptions of salmon fishing in an attempt to boost the country's finances (see Pearlfinders UK 29.05.07). Tourism executives are circumventing the middle-aged and the tweed-clad in favour of women and younger people, with 'ladies only' classes and clubs whose members teach young people to fish. Even the Loch Ness monster is getting a look in. We spoke to Destination Loch Ness Executive, who told us about efforts by the body to turn Loch Ness into a Unesco world heritage site (see Pearlfinders UK 01.06.07). The Loch attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors a year and is worth about £25m annually to the economy, although it is felt there is potential for this to rise to £120m.
Earlier this year we caught up with the newly-appointed VisitBritain Director of Strategy & Communications who told us that the organisation had begun to formulate a plan for exploiting tourism opportunities expected around the 2012 Olympics (see Pearlfinders UK 11.05.06). We were informed that the planning stage is now moving into a new phase, whereby the strategic goals are being worked into marketing plans to build the Britain brand and the whole organisation will be put in the right shape to attack the 2012 strategy. She told us she was looking at building a new roster of agencies by Christmas time. She also said emerging markets such as Eastern Europe and the Far East are expected to be key targets for the organisation and explained that she was looking for integrated agencies rather than specialists. Opportunities at VisitBritain are presented via tenders, to be found via Pearlfinders' TenderAlert service.
We've also been speaking to VistBritain Supply & E-Commerce Manager about the body's three-year marketing campaign in the US aimed at winning back tourists who have lost interest in Britain since the September 11 attacks, the July 7 bombings and the foot-and-mouth crisis (see Pearlfinders UK 19.02.07). The campaign, set to run under the name 'Be a Brit Different' will combine both national and regional activity and at the time, we featured a tender for an agency to undertake a full range of advertising and marketing services to promote Britain in Canada.
Over the last few months, Pearlfinders has been tracking efforts by RDAs in the north of England to redevelop not only cities, but little-known villages, and reinvigorate cultural interest. The village of Upper Weardale, County Durham, recently announced ambitious plans to redevelop its surrounding area. The village was reported to be creating a hot springs spa called "Bath of the North". Wear Valley District Council Director of Regeneration told us that the Council was aiming to develop the hot springs site as a key tourism destination, creating "unique opportunities" for new and existing businesses (see Pearlfinders UK 06.02.07). He explained that one of the key challenges he'd been facing was promoting the benefits of the regeneration initiative to local communities and indicated that the initial announcement may have caused "conflicts of interest" with some members of the community. The Council has been taking steps to reduce this by building relationships with regional communities and encouraging residents and businesses to become actively involved.
Old towns that once played host to a thriving industrial Britain are beginning to reposition themselves as cultural loci. Middlesbrough, for example, has announced plans to establish itself as the UK's art capital. Speaking to Middlesbrough Council Strategic Procurement Officer, we discovered that a proposed art institute is expected to play a fundamental part in the regeneration of the town (see Pearlfinders UK 26.01.07). The Council hopes it will encourage tourists to visit the area, and double as a place for local communities to join together. As the unit develops, he told us agencies were likely to be taken on to work on project-based tasks.
Similarly, the South Yorkshire city of Sheffield is pioneering an approach to regenerate itself to become a "role model" for other urban areas. The city has formed Creative Sheffield, styled as a "city development company", with a broad remit to lead generation and seek investment. We spoke to Creative Sheffield Marketing Manager, who explained that the Creative Sheffield initiative involves work alongside local businesses and communities to raise the profile of the city and encourage inward investment (see Pearlfinders UK 04.01.07). She told us the eventual aim was a place in the front rank of Europe's leading 'creative producer' cities. At the time of our conversation, Creative Sheffield was in the process of appointing a new Marketing Director and we were told agency arrangements were expected to change once a new decision-maker had been crowned.
What does this activity mean for agencies, and how to capitalise on this emerging trend? First of all, it might be wise to pay close attention to how specific policies established by local governments and independent inspectors might impact on local marketing. Leveraging existing contacts at your local council / tourism associations will help to ensure your shop is in the right place at the right time. Some food for thought: interestingly, Britain is a number one nation brand in research, and tests well on nearly everything - culture, heritage, landscape etc. - but ranks lower down the scale on welcomes and friendliness. Might this be an issue to deal with first and foremost?