Bath’s local economy to benefit from tourism funding
2012-08-28 — /travelprnews.com/ — The 3-Year tourism project, ‘Growing Tourism Locally’ will stimulate economic growth and jobs at a local level
Bath’s destination marketing organisation, Bath Tourism Plus, (BTP) is set to invest an additional £1million into promoting Bath and North East Somerset over the next 3 years, as a result of receiving £500,000 from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund (RGF). The additional funding will support marketing campaigns which will seek to attract high spending short break and premium shoppers markets and help grow the value of Bath’s visitor economy.
Bath is one of a number of destinations in England that has been allocated additional funds through RGF to support destination marketing campaigns designed to bring new visitor spending and associated jobs to the area. Having already delivered a successful Heritage themed campaign in May, the investment will go on to support Bath’s forthcoming campaigns such as this autumn’s Great Bath Feast and extensive Christmas and Spring marketing activities.
Working closely with partners across the industry, in particular the Bath Business Improvement District (BID), BTP’s Marketing Strategy sets out ambitious growth targets and aims to add an additional £43million into the visitor economy by 2014. In a new collaboration with Bath BID, BTP will deliver marketing campaigns which will see Bath promoted both nationally and regionally through press advertising, digital marketing, and outdoor sites together with an extensive PR programme.
James Berresford, VisitEngland’s Chief Executive said: “The RGF money is a huge boost for tourism in England. This project enables our public and private sector partners to work together to stimulate tourism and ultimately grow jobs throughout the country with particular emphasis on some local areas. This is a great time to launch and we hope that by riding on the crest of a wave of a successful London 2012 Olympic Games we will harness the swell of national pride and inspire Brits to take the home advantage and holiday at home this year and beyond.”
Nick Brooks-Sykes, Chief Executive at Bath Tourism Plus said: “This investment acknowledges the real value of Bath’s visitor economy and its ability to deliver real economic growth. By producing innovative and effective campaigns, we will be able to realise our ambition of raising the value of day visitors by 9%, growing domestic overnight visitors by the same amount and increasing business event delegates to 169,000, so that by 2014, tourism will be worth £400m to the local economy.”
Andrew Cooper, Bath Business Improvement District Manager said: “Working in partnership with Bath Tourism, we can ensure that the Bath BID’s resources are maximised and this delivers real value for our levy payers. Collaborative marketing campaigns will promote Bath to our key audiences and will aim to drive additional high spending footfall into the city’s businesses.”
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Note to editors
Bath Tourism Plus
Working with the public and private sectors, Bath’s destination marketing organisation, Bath Tourism Plus, takes full responsibility for co-ordinating the work of a busy tourist information centre, the marketing of Bath and the surrounding area to leisure and business travellers, PR activity to attract the nation’s top travel writers, a conference office, and development of Bath’s official destination website www.visitbath.co.uk
About VisitEngland
- VisitEngland is the country’s national tourist board. We work in partnership with the industry to develop the visitor experience across England, plan national tourism strategy, grow the value of tourism in England and provide advocacy for the industry and our visitors
- Our work is underpinned by robust research and customer insights. You can access the latest in-depth market intelligence and statistics on www.visitengland.org/insight-statistics
- For corporate information see www.visitengland.org and for consumer information see www.visitengland.com
About the Regional Growth Fund
- The overall campaign values for Bath are gross figures, inclusive of VAT – final campaign spend will be dependent on minimising irrecoverable VAT across the project as a whole.
- The Regional Growth Fund was launched in October 2010 and has so far allocated £1.4 billion through two bidding rounds. An additional £1 billion was added to the fund in the 2011 Autumn Statement which closed in June 2012. The winners will be announced in the Autumn. For more information, please visit www.bis.gov.uk/rgf