A Message from Marc Etches

Welcome to the May edition of our newsletter...

Last month I wrote about the concept of the visitor economy as something that has at its core a traditional view of tourism but also incorporates other visitor-related economic activity such as business meetings, conferences and exhibitions, shopping, special events, eating and drinking, sports and leisure, and arts, cultural and heritage activities.

I also argued that successful ‘place-making’ is fundamental to growing the visitor economy; in essence, a place that is attractive to live and work in is consequentially more likely to attract visitors and inward investment.

It seems to me that what can also be said to be a natural consequence of successful ‘place-making’ is a strong sense of community pride borne out of knowledge and understanding of the best attributes of the area in which a community is located. Given that traditional tourism is predominantly driven by visiting family and friends, local knowledge is vital to securing a good tourism experience.

With this in mind, I am pleased to have learned that Lincolnshire has, over the last decade, developed an award-winning approach to the provision of public transport across a county that is extensively rural. Specifically, the bus routes that connect Lincoln with most of the towns around the county are supported by, and connected to, a remarkable network of bookable mini-bus services – see www.lincsbus.info for more details about the CallConnect services. This is just the sort of innovation that Visit Lincolnshire should promote in partnership with those providing the services. Our commitment is to include bus service information on our own website, www.visitlincolnshire.com.

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the contribution and commitment that Keren Shepherd, our Travel Trade Manager has made to Visit Lincolnshire during her more than five years with us; Keren is moving on to fresh challenges elsewhere and we all wish her great success. I would also like to express my delight in announcing that Emma Tatlow has been appointed Deputy Chief Executive, which she will combine with her existing duties as Head of Marketing.

Thank you.