VisitEngland reveals the latest results of the three-year project “Growing Tourism Locally”

LONDON, 2014-8-15 — /Travel PR News/ — VisitEngland, the national tourist board, today reveals the latest results of the three-year project, ‘Growing Tourism Locally’, which in its second year has to date generated a total of £416 million additional tourism spend and created 7,744 additional jobs for the sector.

The project, funded by £19.8m from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund (RGF) and with a total investment of £41.6m including contributions from VisitEngland and the private sector, is aimed at inspiring UK residents to take more holidays at home and stimulate employment to grow jobs in the tourism sector by 9,139 over the three year period to March 2015.

The latest round of results released today reveal the impact of local marketing campaigns that took place over the Spring and Summer 2013 in partnership with a number of destinations across the country. These campaigns alone have generated £185.1million in tourism spend and 3,428 additional jobs for the sector. They included destination based campaigns featured across a selection of national and regional print, broadcast and digital media. Campaigns included amongst others a ‘Kids Love Cornwall’ campaign promoting family friendly breaks, a campaign in Newcastle titled ‘Have the Tyne of Your Life’ championing the ‘Geordie city break’; and a heritage themed campaign in Durham featuring attractions including Beamish Museum.

James Berresford, VisitEngland’s Chief Executive said: “The Growing Tourism Locally project continues to deliver fantastic results, creating jobs and providing a boost for tourism in England by showcasing the high quality product on offer in England through these creative marketing campaigns.  It demonstrates the benefits of public and private sector partners working together to stimulate the visitor economy. After a successful first year the project continues to build on this success in its second year, with destinations throughout the country benefiting significantly from this investment.”

Tourism Minister Helen Grant said: “The tourism industry is making a huge contribution to economic growth and job creation. These fantastic results show the government’s investment in the industry is helping to generate additional tourism spend and creating thousands of new jobs across the country.”

The ‘Growing Tourism Locally’ project focuses on working directly with destinations throughout England and the private sector to create a number of dedicated marketing campaigns throughout the country that will focus on specific areas and themes. A combination of Destination focused and themed marketing campaigns – including Heritage, Coastal, Countryside, and Culture including Sport – have been rolled out since the launch of the project in August 2012 to boost holiday bookings and stimulate consumer interest in taking holidays and short breaks.
ENDS

Angelah Sparg, Corporate Communications Manager Tel: 02075781482, Mob: 07917 183 668, Email:Angelah.sparg@visitengland.org or Sarah Long, Head of Corporate Communications Tel: 020 7578 1452, Mob: 07500555651, Email: sarah.long@visitengland.org  Website:  www.visitengland.org
Notes to editors:

The list of local delivery partners:
• Bath Tourism Plus
• Marketing Birmingham
• Destination Bristol
• Visit Cornwall
• Cumbria Tourism
• Visit County Durham
• Marketing Manchester
• Marketing Liverpool
• NewcastleGateshead Initiative
• Northumberland Tourism
• Experience Nottinghamshire
• Visit Peak District and Derbyshire
• Visit York
• Leeds and Partners

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.
• England is a unique destination and a real powerhouse in global tourism. It represents 84 per cent of the total UK visitor economy, is worth £106 billion, and supports 2.6 million jobs.
• For corporate information see www.visitengland.org and for consumer information see www.visitengland.com.

About ‘Growing Tourism Locally’ – a Regional Growth Fund Tourism Investment Project 
• In October 2011 VisitEngland’s application to the Government’s Regional Growth Fund was approved by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).  £19.8 million was awarded to deliver a three year partner marketing project entitled ‘Growing Tourism Locally’.
• This project aims to stimulate the domestic visitor market to grow local economies through increased tourism activity by UK residents.  The project enables VisitEngland to work in partnership to facilitate growth at a local level, further amplifying the second Holidays at Home are GREAT campaign that was launched in March this year.
• The project ‘Growing Tourism Locally’ has the potential to create the equivalent of 9,139 full time jobs across England and is focussed on supporting areas that are currently dependent on the public sector for employment to transition to private sector-led growth and prosperity where tourism can be a key contributor.
• The RGF funding is matched with private sector funding at national and local levels to create a project of £41million over 3 years to March 2015.

ABOUT Regional Growth Fund 
• The Government’s Regional Growth Fund is a £3.2 billion fund designed to help companies in England to grow.  It supports projects and programmes committed to leveraging private investment and delivering sustainable jobs.  Round 6 is now open. For more information, including Round 6 regional roadshow dates, please go to www.bis.gov.uk/rgf .  The round closes 30 September.

 

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