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Dear ?????????
Welcome to the Winter 2008/9 Edition of the Hidden Britain South East Newsletter
Hidden Britain offers free 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.
The Credit Crunch
What it may mean for tourism in 2009
We have all heard plenty about the credit crunch in recent times, and tourism is a sector no different to any other in experiencing the challenges brought on by the current economic climate.
Potentially the situation could place many rural tourism businesses and concerns in financial difficulties, through rising costs, increased competition, falling revenue and difficulties obtaining credit. However there is certainly help and advice available out there; Tourism South East has been reviewing what the recession may mean for businesses across the region and published a useful article in the Winter/Spring edition of Tourism news.
View the “Winning in Recession” article >>
But perhaps its not all doom and gloom, new research from Visit Britain and Visit London has revealed opportunities as well as challenges in increasing domestic tourism during the downturn. Despite widespread pessimism about the economy in general, short breaks and daytrips are viewed as a necessity and are one of the areas least likely to be cut back. However consumers are certainly keen to save money and maximise value, crucially though they are increasingly looking for high quality experiences.
The VB research also predicts that as the downturn develops, consumers will plan and research their breaks and day trips more, and be drawn to promotions and offers. They also note that many of the traditional barriers to domestic tourism, such as being thought of as comparatively expensive in terms of accommodation, food and travel, are being balanced by the rising cost of flights and the poor exchange rates, which seem likely to make people think twice.
View the Visit Britain research here >>
So whilst its obvious there are financial challenges, the potential behaviour change bought about by the credit crunch, certainly opens up opportunities. What we must ensure in the rural tourism sector, is that the products and destinations are visible, offer high quality experiences, value-for-money, and perhaps utilise promotions and incentives to bring the visitors in.
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
Marketing your destination; a new training workshop from Tourism South East
Tourism South East are offering a new course to help you market your town or area and provide an introduction to the principles of 'destination marketing'. Topics covered include; PR, Websites & e-Marketing, Advertising, Direct Mail, and Unique Selling Points.
For further information or to register your interest for this course please contact Jess Stone, Training Projects Officer at Tourism South East (Tel: 023 8062 5513)
Click here to find out more about TSE training courses >>
Tourism Funding Opportunities through RDPE
SEEDA has awarded £29 million of the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) funds to 14 Leader Local Action Groups (LAG) in the South East region. Each LAG will have responsibility for determining where the share of the money goes and that it meets local priorities. The grant money is available to rural businesses and communities until 2013.
Leader can provide grants of up to £50,000, depending upon the project, although match funding will be required in many cases.
Projects seeking funding must be able to fit with the overall strategies of the Local Action Groups, many of which are seeking to foster sustainable rural tourism and combat rural deprivation.
Visit the SEEDA website to find out more >>
Christmas and New Year are very busy times for everyone, not least those involved with tourism, and we certainly havent been resting on our laurels here at Hidden Britain.
The Hidden Britain Evaluation Toolkit
Firstly there's the new Evaluation toolkit. Evaluation is a key part of any project, without it you cannot make any serious judgement about the value and impact of your work. Too often though this important stage in a project is overlooked or done poorly, therefore here at Hidden Britain we have put together what we hope is a straightforward guide and framework for evaluating your project.
The guide is free to use and although written from a tourism perspective could be applicable to any project. We hope you find it useful!
Download the HBSE Evaluation Toolkit as PDF ( 1.1mb) >>
Farnham Visitors Forum
We have also been assisting Farnham, one of our original ten destinations, in the continuing development of their tourism forum. We have assisted them in creating a web presence for the forum, and are currently looking at developing an online diary so businesses and organisations can effectively plan events.
Visit the Farnham Visitors Forum website >>
New Destinations in 2009
We have also begun work with some new destinations that we expect to carry forward in the New Year.
We are in the early phases of work with Henfield and Petworth in West Sussex. The two towns have quite different issues, while Petworth is internationally known because of the famous stately home, the town itself does not feel it benefits enough from the many visitors to the house and its grounds.
Henfield is an attractive and friendly small town between Brighton and the South Downs that has its own museum and fascinating Common land, that includes what is claimed as the country’s oldest cricket pitch. Henfield is keen to put itself on the visitor map.
Getting St Margaret's on the Map
St Margaret's in Kent has recently benefitted from a marketing opportunity through the Flora Pro-activ Vitallity magazine. By offering a prize of an overnight stay for two, a meal, guided walk, and attraction entry, they were able to secure space in the publication that has a readership of 450,000. The piece will appear in issue 4 and will go to publication on 20th February 2009.
Click here to visit the Flora Vitality Magazine website >>
We are continuing the development work with several other destinations, namely; Petersfield, Lee-on-the-Solent, Hawkhurst, Hassocks, Wallingford, Chilham, Thame, Caterham, and St.Margaret's.
However we're looking for more and are 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 production of a marketing toolkit, which we hope will demystify this often complicated and unapproachable subject for all. We're working on it as we speak and hope to have the final version ready to go soon.
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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