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.

Easter’s Business Barometer Survey

The latest Business Barometer Survey covering Easter 2010 is now available; produced in partnership with East Midlands Tourism (EMT) it gives a snapshot of business performance following the Easter holiday.

The results show about 24% of businesses had more visitors than last Easter and 37% had the same level. However, one in three had fewer. Unfavourable weather and the economic climate are the two key reasons for visitor numbers being down.

For accommodation providers 34% were fully booked over the Easter weekend with another 34% being less than 50% full.

Overall, the trend shows that repeat visitors are bringing stability to the industry. Over 30% of businesses have increased levels of repeat visitors in 2010 and over half are maintaining the same level.

However the summer is looking reasonably good, as one in four operators have more advance bookings for the summer than this time last year, and about 42% have the same level.

To read the full survey visit our website.

‘Welcome to Lincoln’ guide – the new bedroom browser

We’re launching a new guide for the city of Lincoln in partnership with Lincoln Business Improvement Group (Lincoln BIG).

The guide, targeted at residents and visitors is a magazine style publication focusing on what’s happening in the city, events, where to eat, shopping highlights and more. The guide will be distributed to tourist attractions, hotels, accommodation providers, shopping centres and retailers across the city in early July.

The guide will complement our City Breaks marketing campaign which also includes a dedicated website, social media plan, advertising and PR to generate visits to Lincoln.

If you would like to advertise in this new guide or have copies for your visitors, please call Fiona on 01522 561676 – fiona@visitlincolnshire.com, or Dan on 01522 561674 – dan@visitlincolnshire.com