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Welcome to the Spring 2009 Edition of the Hidden Britain South East Newsletter
Hidden Britain offers support to rural communities to help them uncover the fascinating wealth of landscape, history and culture within Britain's countryside. What's really special is that the local communities themselves, develop truly unique and distinctive experiences for people who visit their towns and villages.
Hidden Britain has been working in the South East since 2004 to encourage
tourism at a locally managed level. The project aims to
facilitate rural regeneration and community development where
it is needed most.
More evidence of increased short breaks closer to home
Variously named the year of the ‘staycation’ or the ‘UK-ation’, 2009 looks good for domestic tourism. The 2009 Easter weekend confirmed predictions of increasing numbers of UK residents taking breaks in the UK. The camping and caravanning club reported a huge 50% rise on occupancy at its sites over the holiday weekend.
Research by the RAC confirmed the trend – they found that two-thirds of people who had gone abroad last Easter were staying in the UK for Easter 2009. The same survey found a 33% increase in plans for short distance travel over last year. People are cutting back by spending less and staying closer to home, but are still travelling on short breaks or day trips.
All of this spells good news for rural towns & villages. Most of our visitors tend to be domestic, often on day trips from within the region. This key market is growing, presenting a real opportunity for rural destinations looking to increase visitor numbers.
British Countryside Boring?
A survey of 3,000 Britons, for hotel chain Travelodge, found that many considered visiting the countryside to be boring with nothing to see or do.
John Tribe, Professor of Tourism from University of Surrey commented on the findings; "It is alarming news that over half of the nation thinks the British countryside is boring and there is nothing to do or see there. Maybe this is because in the last decade Britons have preferred to holiday abroad and as a result; they have forgotten the UK is abundant with great rural holiday locations.”
Rural destinations therefore need to be imaginative in thinking about how to present themselves and the things to do in their area to make potential visitors think again about visiting the countryside.
If your town or village would like to do or know more about increasing visitor benefits, then please get in touch via the website at www.hiddenbritainse.org.uk/contact
‘Enjoy Every Minute, Enjoy England’ campaign
VisitEngland’s £3million ‘Enjoy Every Minute, Enjoy England’ campaign is designed to inspire and stimulate consumers to take day visits, short breaks and holidays in England this year based on the range of experiences, fantastic quality and value on offer.
Each campaign features a range of special offers and there is still the opportunity for you to get involved, if you have not done so already via your regional tourist board. If you have an offer representing great value for money, such as free entry to attractions for kids, three nights for the price of two, 20% discount or 2 for 1, they would like to hear from you.
Subject to VisitBritain and VisitEngland approval, your offer will feature on VisitBritain.com and EnjoyEngland.com free of charge. There will also be links from numerous country micro-sites.
If you are an accommodation provider or attraction, complete the online form to get involved.
Click here to access the online form >>
For all other industry sectors, download a registration form and return it to partnerships@visitbritain.org
Click here to download a registration form >>
South East Market Town Awards 2009
Could YOUR town and YOUR project be a winner in the 2009 National Market Town Awards?
The 2009 National Market Town Awards have been launched and entries are invited from towns throughout England for projects completed between April 2008 and March 2009.
The awards are organised by Action for Market Towns – the national membership organisation for market towns – but your town doesn’t have to be in membership to enter a project.
There is an online information and application pack which gives you all the information you need to see if a project in YOUR town could enter this prestigious award – and details of last year’s winners to give you inspiration.The closing date for entries is 22 May 2009 – so take a look at the information pack today.
Click here for more information >>
Social networking & Tourism
Word of mouth - what people tell other people about their visit - is probably the most important factor in deciding on a trip. Social networking sites are word of mouth on a grand scale – representing opportunities and threats for places trying to attract visitors.
On these sites, recent visitors to a place can post their opinions of the place, what they saw and did, where they stayed etc. Because the opinions and photos on these sites are by real people, they can carry a lot of weight with potential visitors. They are likely to be considered real and unbiased: Trip Advisor’s tag line is ‘Get the Truth’. This can mean great free publicity, but poor responses can also put others off:
Many of the most popular sites, such as TripAdvisor.co.uk, focus largely on hotel reviews, although there are also others, such as virtualtourist.com and IKnowaGreatPlace.com which focus more on a destination as a whole. These include reviews of individual businesses, like hotels, but are more about things to do and avoid in each destination.
It is worthwhile spending some time looking through these sites to see whether your town or village is mentioned, and if so whether the information is correct. You can use these sites to spread the word about what your place has to offer and counter any bad reviews with positive information.
There is a guide on how to use word of mouth to promote your destination at the Visit London Site.
Click here to download the pdf >>
Spring is in the air and we've been busy out and about working with and supporting communities across the South East..
The Hidden Britain Marketing Toolkit
We've followed up the recent Evaluation toolkit, with yet another kit, this time to help demystify the realm of marketing. Too often projects get underway without understanding who they are looking to attract, and therefore dont plan properly how they intend to reach their audiences.
Effectively marketing your destination is as important as having
something interesting and attractive to draw
visitors.
Therefore we have put together a simple easy to use guide that outlines the fundamentals everyone should consider. The guide is free to use and we hope you find it useful!
Download the HBSE Marketing Toolkit as PDF ( 1.4mb) >>
The Hidden Britain Evaluation Toolkit
Speaking of which if you haven't taken a look at our Evaluation toolkit yet, then why not download a copy now?
Download the HBSE Evaluation Toolkit as PDF ( 1.2mb) >>
Incorporating Tourism into Community Plans
We've also been working with SERCC to prepare some guidance on tourism for communities undertaking a community led plannign process. The resource provides an introduction to tourism and its importance to rural communities, as well as hints and tips on how to integrate it into the plan process.
Download the CLP Tourism Guide as PDF ( 400kb) >>
This document forms part of the successful "Parish & Community Planning Toolkit produced by SERCC and available to communities through their local Rural Community Council.
Click here to visit the SERCC website >>
Destination Developments
Updates from just some of the destinations we are currently working with across the region:
Steyning (W.Sussex) successfully gained a grant from Awards For All. The grant will be used to deliver a series of self-guided walks interpreting the heritage and environment around the town, both for visitors and Steyning residents.
They are now hard at work detailing the routes in time for a Spring 2010 launch.
Hawkhurst (Kent) have been succesful in their bid to the Kent Rural Towns programme. They plan to develop the visitor information provision for the town and hold a three year events programme to showcase the many facets of the area. A first step on this path has been the production fo the new Hawkhurst map & heritage trail guide, which is available now!
Download the Hawkhurst guide as PDF (2.9mb) >>
Hawkhurst have also planned their first event "Flix & Pix", a film and arts festival showcasing the very best of the town and area from 20th to 28th June.
Download the Flix & Pix flyer as PDF (774kb) >>
Chilham (Kent) have just launched their new website at www.enjoychilham.org.uk, which promotes the work of the Chilham Tourism and Retail group and provides an information portal for visitors to the village.
Click here to visit the Enjoy Chilham website >>
Hassocks (W.Sussex) recently particpated in a Destination Marketing workshop organised by Hidden Britain and run by Tourism South East. They intend to use the extra interest and enthusiasm generated to assist in the development of their walking & cycling project, which hopes to make Hassocks a key gateway to the South Downs for these groups.
Petersfield (Hants) have been busy undertaking the research necessery to underpin a project to improve the visitor experience of the town and area. Volunteers have been hard at work auditing signage, maps & visitor information provision. They are also obtaining views and feedback from around the locality, with the aim of defining a new Petersfield brand and idenitity.
Westerham (Kent) are also hard at work gathering opinions to develop a new brand & logo, they hope to have a central idea and message that not only forms the core of their marketing but also encourages a wider stakeholder buy-in. They are also currenlty looking at developing a new website, and a trail.
St. Margaret's (Kent) continue to develop their local business network under the First Light Coast & Country banner. They also recently had a stand at the Kent on Sunday Travel & Leisure Show at the Dover ferry terminal, where they got the First Light message out to 5000 visitors.
Click here to visit the First Light website >>
Edenbridge (Kent) continue the Kentish theme by launching their new eco-fiendly jute shopping bags, featuring the Eden Valley logo, Hidden Britain worked with them to develop.
Click here to visit the Eden Valley website >>
Petworth (West Sussex) recently held their first group meeting to discuss a Hidden Britain project. The meeting was well-attended by businesses and representatives from a wide cross-section of organisations from the town, including the National Trust, Antiques association, the District Council and enterprise partnership. The group are planning their next meeting and will be the next destination to prticipate in the Destination Marketing Workshop that Hassocks recently found useful in helping to define what is unique about their place.
Henfield (West Sussex) have been busy over the last few months doing a signage and general tourism audit as well as a questionnaire of local businesses to gauge interest in working on tourism. They recently held their first project meeting, which was attended by a number of businesses from the village and will now start work on action planning for a project with Hidden Britain.
We are continuing the development work with all our destinations. We will update the news page with our most recent progress, so keep checking back!
However we're still interested in finding several new destinations. So if you know or live somewhere that would like advice and guidance from Hidden Britain, then please contact us!
We are also working on the rest of the project steps section for the website, which will provide guidance and signposting of every aspect of project development and implementation. This has been designed for community tourism initiaitives but is also applicable to almost any kind of project. We hope to have this complete in the next month or so.
The Hidden Britain South East Project is supported and managed by:
- SEEDA - the South East England Regional Development Agency, is responsible for the sustainable economic development and regeneration of the South East of England - the driving force of the UK's economy.
Further
Information…
- SERCC - the association of the eight Rural
Community Councils in the South East of England. It provides
the regional voice and champions the needs of rural
communities across the region.
Further
Information…
- Tourism South East - the regional body
dedicated to fostering tourism growth and innovation in the
region; a partnership of industry with regional and local
government.
Further
information...
- Natural Discovery - Natural Discovery is a company selling short breaks and home products intended to inspire positive long-term environmental benefit
Further
information...
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